Yugioh BRAVE
by Wolf-Prince-Leon
Summary: As the existence of Duel Spirits is discovered by select Duelists. Haru Taylor and his friends are pulled into a conflict against an enemy unlike anything before.
1. Chapter 1

Since its genesis, Duel Monsters was a beloved game. Played for years and still it lives on. From the 1990s when it was first introduced, to the far future, it had risen to be a cornerstone of the world.

The year? 2123, a future of revolutionary travel and communication technology after the Third World War. The location? Echo Town, California, a town about 250 miles from Balboa Park, settled by Japanese immigrants who had come over in the late 21st century. The time? 8 AM, Pacific time. This was a joyous day, the anniversary of the Duelist Kingdom tournament, the tournament that named the very first King of Games. Duelists all over the world had gathered for the event.

That is, except for one.

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIING! went an alarm clock.

With a shout of surprise, someone tumbled out of bed in his dark room, landing on the floor in a tangle of plushies and blankets. Slowly, a twelve-year-old boy began to get up from the pile, his long blue hair all messed up and uncombed.

"Argh... why the heck did I set my alarm clock?" he muttered in a groggy voice. Then, on simple instinct, he looked at a nearby calendar. Right there, in big red letters, the day said, "Yugi Mutou Festival, win that Duel Disk. -Leon"

The boy groaned. "_Shimatta._ Darn Leon and his Dueling addiction. It was bad enough when he got that Duel Disk for his birthday, now this... But a bet's a bet. Better get up and get moving."

He got up and stretched, and went over to his dresser, to pick out some clothes.

Haru Taylor wasn't a seasoned Duelist at all. He'd just started two months ago, having been roped in by Leon McCloud, his closest and only friend. His deck was fairly good, but he made mistakes in the heat of battle, and was prone to panicking.

Knock knock knock!

"Haru? You up?" asked an older voice.

Haru jolted. It was the voice of his older brother, Haruka. Nineteen years old, athletic, and overall better than Haru at just about everything, Haruka was Haru's legal guardian while their parents were working in Japan. "Y-yeah," he stammered.

"Relax, little bro, just wanted to make sure. Anyway, Leon and Hunter are out front waiting for you. You dressed yet?"

Haru sighed. "Yeah, I'm ready. Lemme just get my ponytail." He grabbed a hair tie from atop his dresser drawer, and tied his hair back into a ponytail.

Outside, two were waiting-another preteen the same age as Haru, and a dog. The twelve year old, by the name of Leon, had short brown hair, blue eyes, and a blue hoodie over brown slacks and a black t-shirt. On his arm was strapped a Duel Disk, a standard KaibaCorp model in blue. The dog was a golden retriever with a blue bandanna around his neck, which covered his collar.

Soon, Haru opened the door. "Morning," he said. "You do realize that the sun isn't even up yet?"

"I wanna be at the front of the line this year, Haru," Leon said.

"You know how Leon is, always likes to be early instead of late," the dog said.

Haru rolled his eyes. "That doesn't mean he has to be up at the buttcrack of dawn, Hunter. And even after a year, I'm STILL not used to you talking."

"Really? Well, this is definitely an easier way to communicate," Hunter said, wagging his tail.

Hunter was a special dog... _very _special. He had an ability no one had seen before. You see, he could speak English, as if he were human. No one could explain or figure out how he gained this gift, but he was happy to have it, as it made him far more helpful as Leon's service dog.

See, Leon McCloud was a bit special himself. He was autistic- specifically, he had Asperger's Syndrome. He was naturally intelligent, but he wasn't the best socially. In fact, people tended to ostracize him at school. However, with help from his mother, and with Hunter to help advocate and protect him, his life's been getting better. In fact, he was the only person that befriended Haru.

Haru wasn't so sure he enjoyed the arrangement. Leon may have been a friend, but he was also, in a word, _obnoxious._ He was enthusiastic almost all the time about Dueling, and it was impossible to get him off the subject. Furthermore, he was hyperactive, to the point where Haru wondered if he even slept at night.

"Sorry Haru, but I didn't wanna get us stuck in a long line. I'm no fan of wasting time in a line. I'm just hoping they have more Agent cards."

Haru raised an eyebrow. The card in question, The Agent of Judgment- Saturn, was a card Leon had been wanting, and was excited when he heard they were giving them out at the entrance to the festival. Leon dueled with Light-Attribute Fairies, but lately, the Agents Archetype had been on his mind. They'd caught his interest, so he'd been collecting them for a _new _deck.

"Come on inside," said Haru. "We'll eat breakfast first, then go."

"Well, Hunter and I ate, but I'm fine with that." Leon smiled.

"Breakfast _is _the most important meal of the day after all!" barked Hunter.

After breakfast and a shower for Haru, Haru's older brother, Haruka, drove them to the site of the event.

"So who else is coming?" Haru asked casually.

"I was hoping the whole crew could come..." Leon twiddled his thumbs as they drove through an intersection on the green light. "Nicky, Zeo, Cyrus, and Lily, you know?"

Cyrus, Nicky, Lily, and Zeo were Leon's other friends. Haru didn't like them, and they didn't like him. It was a comfortable relationship nobody wanted to change.

"Sadly... Nicky's sick, Lily's in Colorado visiting her family, and Zeo's in some place called Mathias, Maryland." The brunette sighed. "I wanted to have a fun day with everyone, but only Cyrus can come..."

Haru patted his friend's shoulder. "It's okay, buddy. You still got me."

"OH! ...Haru..." Leon dug in his pocket, and offered Haru a card pack. "An apology for the early wake up."

Haru was surprised by this, and took the pack slightly clumsily. "Um… thanks, I guess."

"Oh, we're almost to Cyrus's house."

"Hope he has those treats I love!" Hunter said.

Haru rolled his eyes. Cyrus's grandfather would never let him have a pet, so dog treats were out of the question.

So, as they parked by the mentioned house, another boy came out the door. This kid was younger and shorter than either of his fellows. With a short but shaggy mop of blond hair, a green shirt, and a camo jacket and pants, he was ready to go.

"Hi Cy!" Hunter said excitedly.

Cyrus bounded over to the car and jumped right in, giving Hunter a big hug.

"Excited for today?" Leon asked.

Cyrus nodded. "Yeah!"

"Cool!" Hunter smiled.

Leon, leaving Cyrus and Hunter to chat, put in his earbuds and enjoyed Happy by Pharrell Williams.

Haru, leaving the others to their own devices, shuffled through his new cards and sighed.

Before long they arrived at the festival, and they were in luck; the line hadn't started yet. The little crew was quickly entered into the festival area.

"You guys a bit early?" a booth operator said, after the kids arrived.

"Blame Mister Sunshine here," Haru said with a point of the thumb to Leon.

"Hey, what did I do?" Leon retorted. "I don't like long lines."

"Yeah, all he did was get us here early," Cyrus agreed.

"Whatever." Haru huffed and turned away from the others. Haruka, watching this, sighed and put a hand on Haru's shoulder.

"Oh, wanna check out the card store before going to the center stage for the big challenge duels?" Leon asked.

"Sure!" Cyrus nodded emphatically.

"...okay," agreed Haru.

Pretty soon, the group headed to the card store, where Leon immediately went to the cash register.

"Three of the Cosmic Angel pack please?" Leon asked the clerk.

"Sorry, we're all out."

"But... the festival just started and you just opened," Leon argued. "How can you be out?"

"Because that pack's been discontinued due to bad reception."

"But... I needed Master Hyperion."

"Sorry, kid, but you can buy him online or something."

Leon was quiet. Completely silent. But when Haru noticed him clenching his fists, he had himself, Cyrus, and Haruka backing up.

But Leon DIDN'T blow his top. "Leon, don't lose it. You're in public. Not a good place to lose your temper," the lad murmured to himself. Leon took several deep breaths, determined to calm himself down, Hunter looking at him with concern.

"If it's any consolation, we have a brand new pack with all new Light Fairies and support cards."

Leon perked up, looking at the clerk. "Really?"

"Yeah." The clerk nodded. "No Hyperion, but plenty of newbies. As a promotion, the packs are half price today only."

"Um… five please?" Leon asked, as he placed a twenty on the table.

"Sure."

"That was close..." Cyrus sighed, as Leon bought his cards. "Leon's rage is like a Blue Eyes getting rampant."

"_**More like a time bomb," **_Haru thought. "_**It comes all at once and usually ends in big trouble for everyone around him."**_

"We have a table where you can open your the packs, right there to your left." The clerk said to Leon. He and Hunter headed to the table to open his pack. The clerk then looked at the others. "You guys want any cards?"

Haru stiffened. "I- um.. uh… I'll take a pack…"

"Me too," Cyrus said.

"Got a favorite attribute or strategy?" the clerk asks.

"I like Water…" Haru rubbed his sleeve slightly.

"Wind Dragons for me!" Cyrus smiled.

"I know just the packs." The clerk pulled out two different packs; Mirror of the Ocean and Dragonic Gale. "These have the best in those two categories." He gave them to the boys. "These are on the house."

"Th.. thank you…" Haru held his close.

"Nice, a free card pack," Haruka said happily. "Open it, li'l bro!"

"Okay…"

Cyrus also opened his pack too. The very first card had him uneasy. "What the..."

"What is it?" Haru asked softly.

"This Trap Card... the picture kinda scares me..." Cyrus showed Haru the card- a Trap called Dragon's Moon. The picture was a huge dragon, curled up around the moon with fire raining down on the world below it. The effect wasn't much better- "Select two Dragon-Type Monsters with 2500 ATK or more in your deck and banish them. All cards on the field are banished, and the owners take 500 points of damage for each card banished by this effect."

Haru shuddered. "I have to agree…"

"It reminds me of Fall of Dalamud. In the End of an Era cutscene of Fourteen."

"..." Haru had no idea what on Earth Cyrus was talking about, and didn't want to. Instead, he opened his card pack, and pulled out the nine cards within. "Hmm… hey… this is Gishki Ariel..."

"You get a good card?" Haruka asked, leaning over Haru's shoulder.

"Uh-huh." Haru showed Ariel to his brother. "I could always use one more of her, right?"

"Hey... wait a second." Cyrus looked at the ninth card in his pack in amazement. "This card's... wow."

"Lemme see!" Leon practically bowled Haru over in order to see Cyrus's card.

"Sure." Cyrus showed Leon the card. It was Monster card, a Synchro called Wind Dragon of the Eons. The picture depicted a beautiful dragon with scales of silver. But what was interesting was that in the depiction, this dragon was standing its ground against the Dragon's Moon, roaring back at it, as the wind made by its strong wings protected humans from the rain of fire.

"...wow…"

"I'm willing to bet that in the lore, these two dragons are arch enemies. Their effects do seem to clash in that sense," Cyrus said.

Meanwhile, Haru was looking at the sixth card in his pack, a Normal Monster called Water Dragon of the Endless Mirror. It was a Level 4 monster with 500/500, which in most cases would just be cannon fodder (or maybe Cannon Soldier fodder), but its flavor text caught Haru's eye.

"One of six dragons that maintained the balance of the world. His power is negligible, but he has the potential to become something much more."

"Hey, you got a dragon too?" Leon asked, noticing Haru's card.

"Uh-huh," Haru said. The dragon on the card looked weak and fragile, but beautiful, with scales as blue as the ocean. "Hey... look at the sky in the picture." Leon pointed to the sky.

Haru looked. It was a stormy grey sky, rain pouring down in droves. Come to think of it, the dragon seemed to be hiding, cowering in fear from the rain under an old, broken, dirty mirror.

The chime of the shop bell rang, and someone entered.

"Those are part of a special card set made by Pegasus himself," a voice mentioned. The kids all looked to see who was talking. It was a teenaged boy, around fifteen or so, sporting messy brown hair, a pale blue polo and jeans. He had a cool, calm, and collected demeanor about him.

"By PEGASUS?" Leon perked up.

"You know, Antonio Pegasus. The guy claiming to be a direct descendant to Maximilian himself."

"...Didn't Pegasus die a widower without any kids?" Haru said bluntly.

Everyone in the shop gasped as though Haru had spoken an insane blasphemy.

"Antonio's gone to great lengths to sell that he's really a descendant. Most people actually bought it." Joshua shrugged.

There was an even louder gasp.

"Truth hurts, I know. Anyway, Antonio has recently finished and released a new series of Dragon themed cards called the Dragons of Balance and Strife. Six Monsters, four Spells, two Traps. The Monsters, which I count three of in your possession, are the Balance Dragons. While the Spells and Traps, as you only have one, are the Strife Dragons. They're designed to create a deck that, with the right cards added, is basically invincible."

"Three?" asked Cyrus. "Who has the third?"

"The boy behind you. The one with the dog. He's looking at it right now." The boy casually pointed straight at Leon. Indeed, Leon was holding one- Another Synchro called Light Dragon of the Magic Seal. It depicted a large, beautiful dragon standing tall and proud, with scales of goldenrod and white marks resembling ancient runes all across its body.

"Three down, three to go. One is an Xyz, one is a Tuner, and the last one's an Effect Monster," the boy said.

Haru looked at the dragon in his hand. "...I don't really think this is the kind of card you can use in a deck..."

"Not in its current structure. But with the Agents being out of the question, I can rebuild my deck and include my new dragon." Leon grinned.

The boy smirked. "By the way, any of you planning to try out the Challenge Duels?" he asked.

"The what?"

"The Challenge Duels at the main stage later today?" the boy said.

"Oh yeah... I was," Haru mentioned. More accurately, he had been forced into it by Leon. Haru winced at the memory.

"I got a little challenge for you, then. Add your Dragon to your deck, use it, and win. If you succeed, I'll give you TWO Strife Dragons." The boy pulled out two cards, a Spell and a Trap. The Spell was named "Dragon's Blade", while the Trap was called "Shining Dragon's Ascension".

"I, um…" Haru mumbled. "..." he gulped. "Maybe… I mean, well…"

"C'mon! Just do it!" Leon encouraged. "You can beat him!"

"You've got Gishki cards, Haru. You can beat anybody with those!" Haruka grinned.

"Did you say... Gishki?" the boy asked.

"Yeah, Haru is the best with Gishki. In fact, he's the best Water Duelist period!" Leon said.

"Haru, do you honestly use Gishki?" asked the boy, wanting to hear it from Haru himself.

"Well, I, that is, um…" stammered Haru.

"_**Shimatta!" **_he cursed mentally. "_**Why do you have to say these things, Leon!?**_"

"Y-yes," he finally managed to blurt out.

"Then you'll be able to beat the champ. He's all brawn and no brains."

"Okay…" Haru shrank back behind Haruka, who made no response.

"No pressure though, okay?" the kid said.

Haru said nothing. He was shaking like a leaf, deeply regretting his decision.

"_**Why, oh, why am I doing this?"**_ he thought.

The hours rolled by, and eventually it came time for Haru to go up to the stage and Duel the champion.

"You ready, Haru?" Leon asked as the Taylor, Leon, Cyrus, and Hunter traversed the plaza.

"N-nuh-uh…" Haru shook his head fervently. "I don't think I can do this…"

"C'mon bro, you can do this," Haruka said, placing a hand on Haru's shoulder.

"With the weakest Level Four Normal Monster in creation?" Haru snapped. "It doesn't even have 1000 Attack… How am I gonna win with that thing?" He held his head with one hand. "_Shimatta…_ Leon, I'm never gonna do this ever again…."

"Okay, but don't have a panic attack on us," Leon said.

"Calling Haru Taylor to the stage. Haru Taylor?" the MC called out. Haru gave a baleful glare to Leon, before shuddering, gulping, and walking up to the stage, alone. It was practically torture for him- he felt like he was suffocating in the crowds around him.

Waiting for him on the dark grey, brightly lit stage was quite a sight- a teenager clad in bulky, grey-green plate armor themed after some kind of dinosaur, complete with, of all things, a tail.

A _tail._

The guy smirked and raised a Duel Disk on his arm, decorated the same way as his armor was- grey-green and bristling with spikes that looked like they could hurt you with one touch. Haru, wearing Leon's blue, standard-model Duel Disk, blanched. "Well, well, well," the armored boy sneered, tongue oily with arrogance and complacency. "A new opponent. A boy with a girl's ponytail? Hah, what a crock."

Haru sputtered and blushed beet red at his opponent insulting his ponytail. "Y-your name?" he stammered.

"Chase Kennedy. Dino Duelist extraordinaire." Chase crossed his arms. "Yours?"

"H-H-Haru Taylor…"

"Haru Taylor? The weirdo who holes up in his room and never talks to anyone?" someone in the audience laughed. Haru recognized it as the voice of a teenage neighbor of his and flinched. "This'll be a cakewalk."

"Well, Haru Taylor," Chase said, "I sure hope you're a better Duelist than a public speaker… but no matter! I'll crush you flat!"

"Why waste your time? Haru's the biggest waste of space in town!" the same person taunted.

Haru clenched his fists, tears welling in his eyes, and raised his Duel Disk. "I-I'm not a waste of space!" he shouted, voice shaking. "Le- Let's duel!"

"Prepare for humiliation." Chase readied his Duel Disk.

-DUEL OPEN-

The floor of the stage lit up with rainbow light. This was the activation of a holofield, a form of technology used to materialize holograms. Both Duel Disks activated, and displayed Life Point counters.

(Haru: 8000) (Chase: 8000)

"You can take the first move, Ponytail," Chase snickered. "You'll need it."

Haru drew five cards with a shaky hand, and right there on the first draw was the Balance Dragon. Haru grimaced at the sight of the pathetic creature.

"_**I don't know what I was thinking, agreeing to use this…"**_ he grumbled mentally. However, he just regarded the other cards in his hand, before drawing a sixth. The blue-haired boy took a deep breath and tried to steady his nerves. It didn't help that everyone was staring at him.

But then, an idea hit him. Maybe… Maybe Haru shouldn't use the Water Dragon for attacking, but for something much better.

He steeled himself, and selected a card from his hand.

"_Oooh! Picking me, are we?" _Haru thought he heard a voice say, attacking his already frayed nerves. "_Smart idea!" _Haru tried to ignore the weird voice, and placed the card down on his Duel Disk's Monster Zone, face-down and sideways. "I… I Set a Monster," he said. A sideways card appeared in front of him, its secrets unknown to the crowd at large.

"That all?" Chase asked.

Haru nodded slightly. "Y-yeah."

"Okay! I draw and-" Chase's eyes widened as he looked at his cards. "_**Wait a moment, these aren't my Dino Cards!"**_

"_Hush up," _Chase thought he heard a voice say. "_Just use these, and a win is guaranteed, I swear it." _

"Um... Okay... I play Newdoria in Attack Position." Chase put a card on his Duel Disk, and Haru recoiled in disgust and horror as he saw a hideous, hunchbacked Fiend emerge upon the field. Its skin was sinewy and gross red, and it was covered all over in creepy, spiked collars**. (ATK 1200)**

"Eww… that's so gross…" Haru screwed his eyes shut. But they opened wide once more when he realized that the monster was Fiend-Type. "_**Wait a minute, this isn't a Dinosaur! What's a Dinosaur Duelist doing using a Fiend?"**_

"I also set five face downs." Chase placed five facedowns. He tried to smirk, but Haru could also see Chase was looking uneasy. "Newdoria! Atta-"

"_NO! Don't you dare!" _the voice shouted, startling Chase. "_Let the boy set up whatever he wants."_

"Um…" Chase faltered. "I… end?"

The MC looked puzzled. "Well, folks, it looks like both our champion and our challenger are playing on the defensive!" he said loudly. "Chase seems to be packing Fiends instead of his usual Dinosaurs, but who knows what Haru is up to? Let's find out!"

Haru drew another card. "I… set a face-down card…" Another face-down appeared on Haru's field, behind the one already in play, and Haru consulted the remaining five cards in his hand.

"_**I have Emilia, Shadow, two Cycles, and that Dragon…" **_he thought. "_**What to do?"**_

"_If you ask me," _the voice from before said, "_You should try using that Shadow! Then you can Flip me to get something cool!"_

"Who...Who are you?" Haru said aloud. "Where are you?"

"_I'll explain later! Right now, you're Dueling," _the voice chirped. Haru now realized that it was a teenage girl's voice, stringy and bouncy. "_Now get out there and kick his butt!" _

"_**Alright…. Shadow, huh?" **_Haru looked over the cards in his hand again, and smiled slightly. "_**I might be able to make this work."**_

"Okay… I discard Gishki Shadow from my hand, to activate its effect!" Haru said, a new, stronger color coming into his normally weak and soft voice.

"Got a sudden confidence boost?" Chase asked. "Let's see what you got, blue hair."

Haru's confidence wavered a bit, but he stood his ground. "With p-pleasure. When Gishki Shadow is discarded…" He placed the Gishki Shadow card into a slot in his Duel Disk. "I get to take a Ritual Spell from my Deck and add it to my hand."

"Ritual?" Chase asked.

"What in the world is a Ritual Spell?" someone in the audience asked.

"I'll show you soon." Haru picked his deck out from the slot it was contained in, leafed through it, and plucked out a card. He put the deck back in the Duel Disk, where an auto-shuffler mechanism shuffled it up.

"So now what?" Chase asked.

"I Flip Summon Gishki Ariel."

The card flipped up, and out popped a young looking, female Spellcaster, around Haru's age. She was wearing a blue and brown cloak and hat plated with gold, and carried a staff with a mirror on top, and surprisingly, she had blue hair like Haru. (ATK 1000)

Then, Ariel did something surprising. She turned around to face Haru, smiled, and winked, giving an "OK" sign with her free hand, before pivoting back towards Chase and Newdoria.

Haru stared. "Umm… okay… well… when Ariel is Flipped, I get to add any Gishki monster to my hand." Haru picked another card.

"Setting up for something big?" Chase raised an eyebrow.

"I… guess."

"Good. So am I." Chase grinned a bit sadistically. "Ya done, or are you gonna keep goin'?"

"_**Should I keep going?" **_Haru wondered. "_**I really don't like the look of those face-downs… brr…"**_

"_Set a facedown of your own," _the girlish voice said to Haru.

"_**...I already have one… I think I'll be okay…" **_Haru gulped. "I… end my turn," he said.

"And during your End Phase, I play my first Trap Card. Solemn Wishes!" Chase flipped his first face down, revealing on the face of the card the visage of a beautiful woman bathing in a waterfall..

"_**Kuso!"**_ Haru swore. He knew that card all too well- in fact, Leon used it to obnoxious effect, allowing him to increase his Life Points by 500 every time he drew a card. Knowing Leon's deck, that could make for some devastating combos.

Chase drew.

(Chase: 8000 - 8500)

"Here comes Trap number two, Coffin Seller!" Chase flipped the next facedown. "Chained with the third, Seal of the Flames. With these two cards, all Life Point effect gain or damage of 500 or less is doubled."

The crowd cheered, and Haru groaned. This was even _worse _than Leon's combo.

"Now I summon a Monster face down in Defense Position."

A hidden card appeared, and Chase threw his hand forth. "Newdoria, attack Ariel!"

Newdoria charged right at Ariel, handed curled into fists. She cringed as Newdoria struck her across the face with a powerful blow, and burst into shards. (Haru: 8000 - 7800) Then, Coffin Seller and Seal of the Flames glowed, and Haru groaned in pain as he took a doubled 300 damage from Coffin Seller's effect. (Haru: 7800 - 7200)

_"Rats," _grumbled a voice in Haru's head. _"My first Duel, and I'm already blown to bits by a second-rate Fiend with a cheap effect. You know what I hate? Having low Attack."_

Haru froze. "_**Wait... what? Are you... Ariel?"**_

_"Right on the button, Ponytail. Thanks a lot for letting me get smushed by that Newdoria, by the way. Real fun."_

"_**Sorry. But, um… something is up here. I thought Chase said he was a Dino Duelist."**_

"_Listen, Ponytail," _Ariel snapped as Haru put her card in his Graveyard, "_the cards that he's playing aren't important right now. What's important is kicking his butt six ways to Sunday! Now make your counterattack!" _

Haru winced, and looked to Chase. "You d-done?" he asked.

"Sure," Chase said. "Go ahead, kid."

Haru drew a card, and raised an eyebrow when he saw that he had drawn Double Summon. "_**Double Summon, huh..?" **_he wondered to himself. "_**Maybe... "**_

The blue-haired boy took a minute to consider his options, and nodded to himself.

"_I take it you have a plan?" _the voice of Ariel asked in his mind.

"_**It might work... " **_Then, Haru paused. "_**Wait, why am I talking to you? You're just a voice in my head." **_

"_Details, details. I'll explain later. Just make your move, you big dork."_

"_**Gee, thanks for the encouragement…" **_Nonetheless, Haru started his strategy. "Alright… I play Double Summon. In return for discarding one card, I can Normal Summon two Monsters."

"So basic." Chase fake yawned. Haru frowned and discarded one of the Aquamirror Cycles in his hand. "What was that?"

"Nothing important," Haru said. "Now, I summon Gishki Emilia and…." He gulped. "Water Dragon of the Endless Mirror."

Two new Monsters appeared on Haru's field. One was a Spellcaster- a girl with long, bright red hair, wearing dull blue and brown clothing and a hat like Ariel's. She smiled and twirled a golden staff with a mirror on the end. (ATK 1600)

The other one was a Japanese dragon. While technically an adult, judging by its proportions and long beard, it looked more like a cub. It was very small and had no wings, with scales of a beautiful water blue. It stood tall, looking eager to show some courage… but quaked as it caught sight of Newdoria. (ATK 500)

Chase took one look at Haru's monsters, and burst out laughing. "HAW HAW HAW!" he guffawed. "Barbie in a witch costume and a baby water dragon? What next? Is she gonna pull a bunny out of her hat?"

As if they could sense Chase's mockery, the two Monsters on Haru's field reacted rather negatively. The Water Dragon's ears pointed downward, and Emilia looked insulted by being called Barbie.

"You won't be laughing soon!" snapped Haru.

"Oh? What can two weak, useless monsters do to me?!" Chase cackled.

"This." Haru clasped his hands together and held them to his chest. "I Overlay Emilia and Water Dragon of the Endless Mirror!"

Chase grinned "Trap activate: Xyz Intercept!" He grinned as Haru faltered in his Xyz Summon. "Hah! You trying to Xyz lets me steal one of the would be units, canceling the summon! Gimme that Dragon!"

However, Haru shook his head, regaining his bearings. "I think you're mistaken," he said. The card flipped up as Chase had planned, and a mass of chains lashed forth from the card in an attempt to capture the Water Dragon. It cowered, putting its paws over its eyes…

"Not so fast!" Haru called out, the strength returning to his voice. At the same time, Emilia leapt forth, and batted the chains away with her staff like she was hitting a home run. The crowd gasped as the chains flew back into the card, which shattered like Ariel had.

"What... just happened?" Chase blinked.

"Gishki Emilia is a card that can stun Traps!" Haru said. The ghost of a smirk flickered onto his face. "When she was summoned, you automatically lost the ability to use Trap Cards until the End Phase!"

In the crowds, Leon and Cyrus's jaws dropped, as did Haruka.

"This is _HARU?" _Cyrus asked. "But he's the soggiest Duelist in town!"

"Hunter, you're seeing this too... right?" Leon asked.

Hunter nodded, not daring to speak in public.

"Hehe…" Haruka chuckled. "You go, little bro."

"As I was saying, I overlay Gishki Emilia and Water Dragon of the Endless Mirror!"

The Water Dragon looked to Emilia, who nodded. She gave him a wink and a thumbs up, before her body dissolved into a blue light that orbited around the Dragon.

"Let's go!" Haru shouted. He took a card out of his deck box, where he kept his Extra Deck, and slammed it onto his Duel Disk with Emilia and Water Dragon stacked under. "I Xyz Summon… ABYSS DWELLER!"

But to Haru's, Chase's, and the audience's shock, it WASN'T a normal Xyz. The blue light surrounded the Water Dragon, forming a sphere around it as a HUGE magic seal appeared beneath it.

"What the?" one kid asked, hiding behind his parents.

"Didn't he say Xyz?" another person asked.

"I'm definitely blogging about this," a girl muttered, snapping a photograph on her phone.

The blue sphere began to revolve, and in Haru's mind, Ariel started to cheer.

"_Woohoo!" _she whooped. "_You've got him now, big boy!"_

"_**Thanks… I guess? But what's going on!?"**_

"_THIS is why Joshua said to use him, hahaha!" _Ariel laughed. "_He's not just a regular old monster- he has a hidden feature! You might wanna grab some popcorn, cuz here he comes!"_

The magic seal flared with blue light, and the sphere grew to gigantic size. The light dissipated…

...and the Water Dragon had transformed. Now, it was easily three times Haru's size, and its scales were midnight blue. Two crystalline horns glowed periwinkle blue on its head, and its body was etched in runes glowing the same color. A long mane of white hair ran down its back, and its eyes shone yellow. Hanging around its neck was a large mirror, the same as the one on Water Dragon's card, but larger and fixed up. It was as if the Water Dragon had somehow fused with the Abyss Dweller Haru had intended to Summon. (ATK 1700 - 2200)

"What the-?!" Chase gaped. "First of all, what is that thing, and second, how did its Attack just go up by five hundred?!"

"This isn't just Abyss Dweller. This is... um..." Haru's voice caught slightly and he stammered as he couldn't think of a name, but an idea popped into the preteen's head soon enough. "Abyssal Mirror Dragon! I dunno what happened, but apparently this is what happens when you Xyz Summon something with that Water Dragon! And because it's being treated as regular old Abyss Dweller, it has all of its stats and effects… especially the one that states that all Water Monsters on the field gain five hundred Attack when it has at least one Water-Attribute Xyz Material, and I count two!"

"Oh boy... But I wouldn't attack it I were you. Newdoria, after all."

Haru chuckled. "You sure about that? I know just what that thing does- when it's destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, it takes down the monster that did it in." To Leon and Cyrus, watching in the crowds, this was unbelievable. Haru never normally acted this confident, not even in tabletop Duels. "But I know a way around that! I detach one Xyz Material from Abyssal Mirror Dragon."

He took Emilia's card out from under Mirror Dragon and placed it in his Graveyard. "We'll get to that later. For now… Dragon, blast that chthonian creep to Kingdom Come! Mirror Deluge!"

The Dragon roared, a roar that could heard all over Echo Town, and with a flap of its wings,shot a geyser of water from its mouth. The mirror around its neck glowed, and spewed forth an identical burst. Both blasts of water swamped Newdoria, which screeched and shattered, taking a thousand of Chase's Life Points with it.

(Chase: 8500 - 7500)

There was an awkward moment of silence. "...Why isn't your Dragon destroyed? Newdoria should've-"

Haru held a hand up and chuckled. "By removing one material, any effects that activate in the Graveyard are rendered null and void."

"You're kidding... right?" Chase asked.

"Nope." Haru beamed. "Make your move."

Chase drew.

(Chase: 7500 - 8500)

Then, he smirked, his eyes relit with determination. "Here's my final face-down, the Strife Dragon Spell Card: Dragon's Prison Seal!" Chase flipped his face down.

The crowd went deathly silent. Haru's breath caught in his throat, and even the Abyssal Mirror Dragon drew back.

"By banishing five monsters from my deck. I can trap your Dragon in a prison of inescapable magic, banishing it for a total of three turns." Chase took out five monsters from his deck. "Dragon of the Prison Seal, imprison Abyssal Mirror Dragon now!" From the spell, a dragon with scales of red and black, with pillars of darkness formed around him.

Haru looked down. "Before you take Abyssal Mirror Dragon… I have a question."

"You're better off saying your prayers. But ask." Chase's mouth curved into a sick grin.

"...This card targets Dragon-Type monsters, right?"

"Well, duh. It's Dragon's Prison Seal, don't you know the lore?" The pillars were shot at Abyssal Mirror Dragon, surrounding it…

They closed in, forming a sphere around it, as another large Magic Seal, red instead of blue, formed…

..and almost instantly it broke, the seal and sphere exploded into a blast of blue light, Abyssal Mirror Dragon seeming to laugh as it did.

"WHAT THE-!?" Chase sputtered, staring with wide eyes at the unharmed dragon. Behind it, Haru was laughing- actually laughing! "How did- but that's-!"

"Joke's on you, Chase!" Haru guffawed.

"Is Haru LAUGHING?!" Leon was standing stock-still, as was Cyrus. Haruka was just smiling warmly at the scene. He hadn't heard his brother's laughter in a long time.

"I don't understand! That was supposed to lock that dragon up for three turns!" Chase growled. "You cheated or something, didn't you!?"

"Not at all. You were just too cocky to remember that Abyssal Mirror Dragon is still Abyss Dweller…" Haru calmed down, and got serious again. "...and that Abyss Dweller _isn't_ a Dragon at all. It's a _Sea Serpent_."

"You little… You… Youuu…" Chase was practically purple in the face with sheer fury. The crowd began to laugh at him, but he let out a scream that caused silence to resound. "THAT'S IT! I play Pay for Life!" He played the card in his hand. "Now both of us have to pay two thousand Life Points."

Red light erupted around both Haru and Chase, and while Chase stood his ground with a stony face, Haru cried out in pain.

"Oww!" he howled, holding his head. "What was that!?"

"Now, we each have to summon a monster with two thousand or higher Attack Points from our Decks, regardless of summoning requirements. Come forth, Ultimate Obedient Fiend!"

As if it were cursed, the name sent the entire crowd into a panic. People actually began running away, terrified to see what would happen when Chase's new monster emerged.

A seal appeared in front of Chase, red, like the dragon's seal.

"_That seal... He's summoning his Parasite?!" _Ariel shrieked.

"_**Parasite! What's that!?" **_Haru thought.

"_No time! I'll explain later!" _

From the seal emerged a hand. A hand with skin as red as blood. It grasped the ground. and pushed, bringing something out of the seal.

And that thing was a creature of nightmare. It towered over even Abyssal Mirror Dragon, a monstrosity with deep red skin, hulking muscles, sharp teeth, and what looked like claws on its chest.. It let out a roar that made Abyssal Mirror Dragon cower. (ATK 3500)

"Wait a sec... you can't attack with that thing!" Haru pointed out.

"I don't care!" Chase snapped. "I know full well that I can only use this thing when it's the only card on my Field and when I have no hand. It's here to keep YOU at bay. Now Summon your monster!"

"...Fine." Haru picked through his deck and selected a card. "I Summon Evigishki Levianima."

"_You made a good choice,"_ a new voice said. It wasn't Ariel's, but she chimed in with an "_Uh-huh!"_

"_In front of you, in case you're curious, Haru," _the voice added. Haru looked, to see Abyssal Mirror Dragon, just as his new monster arrived- an anthropomorphic blue dragon wearing red pants and holding a sword. (ATK 2700 - 3200)

"_**Is that you, Water Dragon?"**_

"_Indeed...Thank you for letting me show my true power."_

"_**Um... you're welcome."**_

"_Now then, you know what to do here." _Abyssal Mirror Dragon seemed to smile. "_Let this lunkhead take his turn, and hit him with all you've got when it's yours."_

"With no other option, I end." Chase fumed. "Just try and get through my wall, Ponytail."

Haru drew a card, and consulted his hand. "_**Okay… Still have one Cycle, Aquamirror, and now… Vision." **_His green eyes flicked from his hand to his field, more specifically to his face-down card. "..._**Here we go. Time to activate this."**_

"I activate my face-down," Haru said quietly. He was beginning to feel tired. "Call of the Haunted."

"Reviving Ariel?" Chase assumed.

"Not at all. I Special Summon Gishki Shadow."

His Trap lifted up, and a new Monster materialized on the field- a purple-scaled, fishlike monster in priestly robes of brown lined with gold, holding a creaky, wooden staff. It glared upon Ultimate Obedient Fiend with angry red eyes. (ATK 1000 - 1500)

"Naturally, he gets a five hundred Attack boost from Abyssal Mirror Dragon… And I'm going to use him as Ritual fodder." Haru sighed. "I recall you asking what a Ritual Spell is… You're about to find out. But first, I discard Gishki Vision, to get a Ritual Monster into my hand."

"Come on. Nothing you bring out can overpower my Fiend!" growled Chase.

"...There is one thing." Haru discarded one of his cards, and picked another from his Deck. "Now… I summon it. I activate Gishki Aquamirror."

"A mirror... really?" Chase was unimpressed as a large, golden mirror emerged on the field, identical to the one Emilia and Ariel had wielded on their staffs.

"Not just any mirror," said Haru. "Normally, I'd have to Tribute more than one Monster to summon the one I'm about to, but Gishki Shadow has a second effect besides letting me discard him for a Spell. If I use him to Ritual Summon a Gishki monster, I can use him as the whole Tribute for the Summon. I'll do that now!"

"Ritual Summon?"

Haru nodded. "It's one of the oldest mechanics in the book… I offer Gishki Shadow as Tribute to summon my deck's most powerful Monster. Go… Evigishki Zielgigas."

"Bring it on!" Chase shouted.

The mirror stood still for a moment, until something reached out of it, like something from a nightmare.

Something was pulling itself out of the mirror, clawing at the ground with four huge arms. More and more of the giant being continued to surface from the mirror, clad in golden armor, with dark blue skin and piercing red eyes. It resembled something like a humanoid, demonic stag beetle, an aura of fury surrounding it and the Aquamirror itself emblazoned on its chest. It pounded its chest with all four arms and roared. (ATK 3200 - 3700)

"Alright now… Let's take a gamble, shall we?" Haru said with a chuckle. "Once per turn, while Zielgigas is out… I can pay one thousand Life Points, and draw a card."

"And?" Chase raised an eyebrow.

"And if the card I draw is a Gishki, I get to choose one card on the field and shuffle it back to the owner's deck."

"You're on," Chase said. Haru smirked, and drew a card, his Life Points taking the hit. (Haru: 7200 - 6200) "Well? What did you draw?" Chase asked.

Wordlessly, Haru turned the card in his hand around.

Gishki Ariel.

Chase went pale. "You're… You're kidding. How did you… You couldn't possibly have... "

"Oh, I did." Haru smiled. "Now, I get to pick a card to send back to your deck, and I pick…"

He pointed. "That face-down card you have there."

"What?" Chase was surprised. "But… What about my Fiend?"

"It can't even attack, and Zielgigas can crush it for damage. The face-down is what I'm more worried about at the moment."

Zielgigas pointed with one of its four arms, and the card lifted up, revealing it as Gil Garth. The card was soon incinerated by a burst of energy from a second arm, and Chase cursed as he shuffled it back into his deck.

"And now… Zielgigas, crush the Ultimate Obedient Fiend."

Chase watched as the Fiend was shattered, and clenched his fists. "_**Enough Fiends. I want my Dinos back NOW!" **_(Chase: 8500 - 8200)

"_No!" _the voice he had heard before thundered. "_This deck is perfect! You just need one more turn to beat this little brat!"_

"_**Forget it, you. I've had it with you deciding my choices, my moves, and my cards!"**_

Haru suddenly noticed something on Chase's shoulder. It looked like… no. It couldn't be. Could it? He rubbed his eyes and stared at the thing on the armored boy's shoulder.

Sure enough, it was a miniature version of the Ultimate Obedient Fiend, sitting on Chase's shoulder and whispering in his ear.

"_**Holy… what IS that thing?" **_Haru thought, unable to believe his eyes.

But some kind of aura began to cover the Fiend.

"_What? What the? You're controlling me?!"_

"_**GIVE ME MY DINOS!" **_Suddenly, Chase's deck began to glow, and he grinned. "Yes! Yo, Ponytail! Are you done yet?"

"Nope…" Haru gestured. "I attack directly with both Abyssal Mirror Dragon and Levianima!"

Chase quickly did a set of calculations in his head, and gulped when he realized that this meant 5400 damage in one turn.

One second later, he was sprawled on the ground, having been flattened by another Mirror Deluge from Abyssal Mirror Dragon followed up by Levianima attacking him directly with a sword.

(Chase: 8200 - 2800)

"And whenever Levianima declares an attack, I get to draw a card, and if it's a Gishki, I have the option to shuffle a card in your hand back to your deck." Haru drew a card, and shrugged: it was a Mirror Force. "My luck isn't that good this time, I guess. Your turn."

"I draw!"

(Chase: 2800 - 3800)

"Dino Chase is back, and he's gonna play Card of Demise!" Chase drew five cards.

(Chase: 3800 - 4800)

"Haha, sweetness! Next up, my favorite card! Dinos United! This lets me even the playing field by summoning a Dino from my deck for each monster you have! Come on out! Sabersaurus!"

A gate opened, and out came a red ceratopsian with blades for horns. (ATK 1900)

"Uraby!"

Next came a dark brown raptor like Dinosaur. (ATK 1500)

"And Two-Headed King Rex!"

The next Dinosaur was more like a dragon- a large, purple dragon with yellow horns and two heads. (ATK 1600)

"Oh yeah! Dinos in the house!" Chase shouted enthusiastically. "For my next trick, it's my turn for Double Summon, to summon two Oxygeddons!"

Wind began to gather in two spots, taking the form of two pterosaur-like beasts. (ATK 1800 x2)

Haru noticed a much more positive vibe from Chase. The Ultimate Obedient Fiend on his shoulder seemed to be sulking and turned away from Chase, who was ignoring it.

"_Wow, this is the first time I've ever seen somethin' like THIS happen," _remarked Ariel in Haru's head. "_But you better be careful, or else he's gonna pound you flat!"_

"_**Actually, I'm glad now. He can duel me his way," **_Haru thought.

"Hey... Haru, right?" Chase asked. "What do you see on my field?"

"Five Level Four Dinosaurs," Haru replied. "...You're about to Xyz Summon, aren't you?"

"Yep! But don't worry, this guy will be MUCH more tolerable than that lameo fiend."

"_HEY!" _

"I Overlay all five Level Four Dinosaur Monsters!"

The five dinosaurs turned into pillars of shining light, each a different color, as they spun into a twister of epic proportion.

Meanwhile, the people that had fled began to notice this from afar.

"Hey! The Fiend's gone! And Chase is bringing out his best monster!" someone shouted.

"It can't be, can it?"

"It is! Oh boy!"

Slowly, people started coming back to the arena.

Leon and Cyrus looked at one another.

"What kind of Xyz Monster needs five Level Four Dinos?" Cyrus asked.

"Only one." Leon said. "And it's big trouble for Haru."

The light show spun to a halt, and from it emerged an entirely new Dinosaur.

"Awaken from your eternal slumber! Omnisaurus!"

The Dinosaur was revealed to be some kind of insane amalgamation of multiple different prehistoric reptiles- it had the body and head of a T. rex, the wings of a Pteranodon, the horns of a Triceratops, the tail of an Ankylosaurus, and the back plates of a Stegosaurus. (ATK 2600)

"_It's been a while, Chase."_

"_**No kidding. You ready?"**_

"_Always!" _Omnisaurus roared proudly.

"Now for my friend's power!" Chase called out.

"Power?" Haru asked. "What kind?"

"It's a pretty cool one. For each Xyz-Material on him, Omnisaurus gains 200 Attack Points. Also, once a turn, by detaching a Material, he can destroy one card on the field. But I have to give up one card of my own."

Omnisaurus stood tall. (ATK 2600 - 3600)

"Alright… Let's see. I detach one Oxygeddon and destroy Seal of the Flames to destroy Zielgigas. No more shuffling into the deck, eh? Go, Omni-Cannon!"

The trap card shattered into pixels and Omnisaurus gathered energy in its mouth, before blasting Zielgigas into oblivion with a huge laser beam. (ATK 3600 - 3400)

"But with Coffin seller, you still take 300 damage." Chase reminded.

(Haru: 6200 - 5900)

"Omnisaurus! Attack Levianima. Omni-Chomp!"

Omnisaurus roared, as he charged at his prey. Levianima winced as he was quite literally bitten to pieces by the huge Dinosaur, and Haru had to shield himself from the shrapnel and another hit from Coffin Seller.

"_**I am REALLY getting sick of that card,"**_ Haru thought mutinously.

(Haru: 5900 - 5700 - 5400)

"I end with that." Chase smiled. "It's great to have my Partner back!"

Partner? What was a Partner? Haru groaned and drew a card.

"You may have gotten rid of Levianima and Zielgigas, but I still have Abyssal Mirror Dragon… and I'm gonna take you down with just him." Haru eyed his cards, and Set one on the field. "I end my turn. Come and get me."

Chase drew.

(Chase: 4800 - 5300)

"Omnisaurus! Attack Abyssal Mirror Dragon with Omni-Chomp!"

Omnisaurus charged forward….

"Mirror Force!"

"Touche, Haru," Chase said, as Omnisaurus slammed into a solid wall. It shattered into a series of shining shards, but Chase didn't look all that bummed out.

"_Well played, boy," _Omnisaurus said approvingly.

"I'll say." Chase beamed. "This is the kind of Dueling I live for! C'mon, hit me with all you've got, Haru! Let's end this Duel with a bang!"

Haru did the unthinkable… He actually smiled. "With pleasure! Your turn over?"

"Sure." Chase laughed and gestured for Haru to take his turn. The boy drew a card, and nodded.

"Alright… Here we go. I play Monster Reborn, to revive Zielgigas!"

A magic seal appeared upon the ground, from which emerged the hulking, stag beetle-like Gishki. It pounded its chest and roared. (ATK 3200 - 3700)

"And now… Abyssal Mirror Dragon! Zielgigas! Direct attack!"

Chase smiled as he took the blast, taking the loss with pride.

(Chase: 5300 - 0)

"_Ariel, may I seal the Parasite myself?" _Omnisaurus's voice requested. At the sound of this, the Ultimate Obedient Fiend on Chase's shoulder blanched.

To Haru's surprise, a miniature Ariel appeared on his own shoulder, balancing on her staff. "_Go riiiight ahead. It's a good thing this guy was a weakling, eh? How he even got past you is anyone's guess."_

"_Even a weak dinosaur can win a battle, with wit. Now then, Ultimate Obedient Fiend! I seal you in the name of the Dinosaurs!" _A mini-Omnisaurus materialized on Chase's other shoulder, and the armored Duelist just grinned as it brought the Fiend into a headlock. "_Begone!"_ The Dinosaur roared, and the force and power of the roar itself seemed to tear the Fiend apart.

Haru blinked, then rubbed his eyes. "...What… was that?" he asked. All of a sudden, he was feeling very weak and tired.

"_You okay?" _Water Dragon asked, popping up on Haru's shoulder.

Haru shook his head, not caring that people were staring as he spoke to (to their eyes) thin air. "N-not really… I'm tired…" He was wobbling and shaking a bit.

"...Haru?" Chase looked puzzled. "What's wrong?"

"I got him!" Haruka called out, coming over. He took Haru's hand in his own, which Haru squeezed as tight as he could.

"If you say so. Well... thanks for a great duel. And congratulations on winning the Duel Challenge. Be sure to collect your prizes before leaving… Oh, and… I hope we can duel again sometime," said Chase.

"And don't forget my challenge too," Joshua said, coming on stage. Haru stared at him for a second, before remembering the bet he'd made with Joshua.

"Joshua?" Chase seemed to recognize the boy.

"You... know him?" Haru asked, his voice weak once more.

"He's the son of one of this year's festival sponsors. He's Joshua Ramirez."

The name meant nothing to Haru, so he just turned to Joshua. "Did you… know that Water Dragon would do that?"

"Yep, I wanted you to experience it yourself. It's just a little gimmick built into the card's programming, but it looks cool, huh?" Joshua grinned.

"I guess…" Haru fidgeted slightly.

"Anywho, a deal's a deal. You've earned two more of the twelve dragons, and two more steps to collecting them all." Joshua pulled two cards in sleeves out of his pocket, and held them out for Haru to take. The ponytailed preteen accepted them with trembling hands.

"T-t-thank you…" he stammered.

"My pleasure. Hey, Chase," Joshua said, "take that armor off and help me escort our victor here to the prizes, would ya?"

"Sure." Chase popped a few straps and buckles, and the armor came off, revealing a soft face framed by long brown hair, as well as his normal attire- a simplistic T-shirt and jeans. He smiled at Haru. "C'mon, we'll lead ya."

"C-can Haruka come too?" Haru requested, still clinging to Haruka's hand.

"Of course." Joshua smiled.

As Haru was led off, Leon and Cyrus were talking fervently to one another.

"What the heck WAS that?" Cyrus asked. "It was like he was a totally different person up there!"

"Dueling must bring out a whole new side of Haru..." Leon theorized.

"I'll say!" Hunter whispered, making sure to keep his voice down. "He actually spoke above a mumble!"

"I don't get it, though…" Cyrus frowned and tugged on his jacket. "How on Earth did Haru get so good at Dueling all of a sudden? Normally he's pathetic. Even Zeo can beat him, and you know how bad Zeo is."

Leon bit his lip thoughtfully, recalling Haru's previous tabletop Duels. "Well… remember, he was always nervous and made mistakes in those duels. Once he almost spilled a whole cup of coffee on his deck because he was shaking so bad, remember? But here… I dunno how, but he was more confident. I think we just witnessed his REAL skills."

Cyrus shrugged. "Whether that was a fluke or not, that really was impressive…"

"Agreed." Leon nodded.

Joshua and Chase soon showed Haru and Haruka to the prizes, which had been squirrelled away in a tent at the edge of the plaza with a guard positioned to make sure nobody stole them. .

"Whoa." Haruka's jaw dropped when he saw the stash his brother had won. Lying on a table were a fancy, gold and blue Duel Disk, three fresh tins of the newest cards, a deck made in imitation of the one that belonged to the most recent World Championship winner, a Duel Terminal booster box, and a Samsung tablet.

"I won ALL this?" Haru asked.

"Indeed, you earned it." Chase gave him a thumbs-up. "Anyone who can cream me deserves it."

"Thanks... but, um… how do we get all this the car?" Haru wondered. "I can't really carry so much... "

"I'll help." Haruka picked up the tins, tablet, imitation deck, and the booster box, smiling. "The Disk is all yours."

Haru looked at the Duel Disk he had borrowed from Leon, still strapped to his wrist. "I still have to give this back to Leon, though…"

"I can help Haruka with the prizes," Chase said. "You go find your friend."

Haru flinched, nodded, and scurried away.

"Isn't it strange how Chase said he was a Dino Duelist, then he used Fiends?" Leon pointed out.

"But he ended up with Dinos in the end," Cyrus reminded.

"You think someone hijacked his deck?" Leon wondered.

The two fell into an awkward silence as they headed to a cafe to buy lunch. However, before they could enter the building, Cyrus was very nearly knocked over by someone bumping into him from behind.

"Whoa!" Cyrus managed to regain his footing, and whirled around to glare at the person who had done the bumping. "Watch it, you-!"

He stopped as soon as he saw that it was Haru, who was cringing and mumbling apologies.

"Oh! Hi Haru!" Leon said. "You okay?"

"U-um… I guess…" Haru unstrapped the Duel Disk from his arm and took his cards out, placing them in the deck box at his hip. "I came to give you back your Duel Disk."

"Oh, thank you." Leon accepted his disk back, and patted Haru on the shoulder. "You were really great up there!" he said cheerily.

"Thanks, I guess..." Haru blushed a little. "I'm… gonna go home now, I guess..."

"Okay. Me and Cyrus wanna stick around, so we'll take the bus to get back home."

"Alright… see you guys…" Haru turned and left.

At home…

The Taylor brothers arrived back home, where Haruka keeled over on the couch, and Haru went up to his room. Once he was there, he placed his cards on his night table, and laid down on his bed, letting out a heavy sigh. He was tired right down to his bones.

"_May we come out?" _Water Dragon asked.

"Whatever... " Haru sighed. "That was so scary…"

Ariel and Water Dragon popped out of the deck and alighted on the night table..

"_Sorry about scaring you," _apologized Water Dragon.

"_I'm not!" _Ariel laughed. "_You had the dumbest look on your face when you figured out it was us." _

"Hurk... so, well... what's going on?"

"_It's a lot to explain," _Water Dragon said. "_How about tomorrow?"_

"_Yeah, you look tuckered out," _Ariel said.

"If you say so… But can I ask one thing?"

"_Yes?" _asked Ariel.

"...What the heck _are you?" _

"_Duel Spirits. Manifestations of the creatures from your world's beloved game," _Water Dragon explained.

"...I've had enough," groaned Haru. "I'm going to take a nap."

With that, he turned away, not even bothering to take his shoes off, and fell asleep almost instantly.

Meanwhile, elsewhere.

"So, Leon's in this town?" a boy asked.

"_That's right!" _a voice giggled into his ear. "_And you can do whatever you want with him once you find him."_

"Got that right... I got you the negative energy you asked for. So you promise to help me get Leon's attention, right?"

"_Yep! Right again!" _

"Leon. I need your help. I can't go back to that drunkard. You're gonna help me, whether it's willingly or _not_."


	2. Chapter 2

It was a peaceful morning in Echo Town. With the weather being perfect, kids, adults and teens were all planning to enjoy a great day at Echo Park.

...with the exception of Haru. With his alarm clock reset so that it wouldn't wake him up at dark o'clock in the morning, he had slept until six (having gone to bed at eight the previous day) and awoken to a grey sky just beginning to see the hints of pink and blue that signalled dawn.

As he got up, Haru remembered the events of the previous day. The festival, his Duel against Chase, and most of all, the strange creatures called Duel Spirits that he had seen around himself and Chase.

"Are they… still here?" he murmured to himself. Roving the room, his gaze eventually settled on his deck of Duel Monsters cards. Nothing happened for a minute, but soon, Haru watched in surprised. as his new 'friends' popped out of his deck- Gishki Ariel and Water Dragon of the Endless Mirror. They yawned and stretched out.

"_Ahhhh…. good morning, Haru," _Water Dragon greeted.

"_Yo," _Ariel added.

"Um... hello..." Haru shook his head, and gave the two of them a weak glare. "You two need to explain this whole... Duel Spirit thing."

"_So we shall," _said Water Dragon. "_It's rather a long story, so if you want, you can get ready for the day while we explain." _

"Whatever… I guess." Haru rolled his eyes and began getting undressed.

"_The Ancient Egyptians weren't far off when they claimed that there were monsters they could command in battles," _Water Dragon began.

"_Buuuuuut, they were way off in another way," _Ariel interrupted. "_We didn't come from some far-away Shadow Realm or something like on that stupid TV show you humans have." _

Haru had to bite back a snide remark. Everyone loved the Yu-Gi-Oh television show, and saying it was stupid was like blasphemy.

"_But where did we come from, you ask?" _the Spellcaster continued. "_Well, we're basically creatures that were made from the human imagination. There were only a few of us at first, back in the days of Atem, but when Pegasus discovered the Egyptian precursor to Duel Monsters, he began thinking up more and more cards, and so did the rest of his company. We began to come to life, one after another."_

"_But, not all Duel Spirits are good like us. There are actually two types of Duel Spirits," _continued Water Dragon. "_There's Partners, like us. Born of positive emotions, we're good Spirits. As such, we care about the humans we bond with, and will assist and protect them in any way possible."_

"That explains how nice you guys are," Haru said as he went to the bathroom and entered the shower, the two Duel Spirits followed. "But that Fiend from yesterday… that couldn't have been a Partner."

"_Nope. He's one of the Parasites… the nasty ones who feed off of negative emotions. Normally, they trick or force humans into bonding with them, and corrupt their minds, hurt them, and can even possess them. They can even possess people who already have Partners, though that's very unlikely." _Water Dragon shuddered. "_Ultimate Obedient Fiend was one of the weakest ones, but as you saw, even he can slip past a Partner's defenses."_

"_Ironic, considering that guy is one of the most powerful Fiend-Type cards out there," _snickered Ariel. "_It's kinda weird, though… Something totally bizarro happened when you Dueled him."_

"Weird like how?" Haru asked.

"_Chase stopped being the puppet, and became the puppeteer." _

Haru didn't know how to react to that. He remembered that he was in the shower, shook his head, and sighed as he turned the water on. "Sheesh… this is insane. I feel like i'm in a dream or something."

"_Well, it's not, and you can't just leave all this." _said Water Dragon.

"And why not?" Haru said, a bitter edge in his tone as he slid the shower door closed and began washing himself with a red bar of soap.

"_Anyone that bonds with a Spirit is rendered vulnerable to other ones. As such, Parasites can come and try to destroy them and those close to them."_

The soap fell to the floor.

"You're joking... right?"

"_Nope." _Ariel sat on the soap dish attached to the wall. "_You need to defend yourself and your buddies from now on."_

Haru pulled a nasty frown. "I don't have any so-called 'buddies'," he muttered, shivering slightly as memories from a long-ago time bubbled to the surface.

"_What about Leon?" _reminded Water Dragon.

"Murf…" Haru bent over and picked up the soap, putting it on the soap dish before getting a shampoo bottle from a counter in the shower and pouring some of the cream inside into his hand.

"_Can Leon and Cyrus duel?" _asked Ariel.

Haru nodded. "Yeah… They always win whenever I Duel them…"

Water Dragon considered that, and nodded. "_Oh... in that case, they can handle themselves. But you still should be careful, okay?"_

"I'll try... " Haru imagined the Ultimate Obedient Fiend coming back to try and hurt him or his family, and a distressed expression grew on his face.

"_You can always adjust your deck if you want a little more confidence."_

Haru ignored Water Dragon, and finished up his showering, humming an old song to himself to try and get his mind off it.

After his duel with Haru, Chase hadn't expected much to happen- Haru would just take his prize and go home.

That was why he had been extremely surprised when Leon bull rushed him soon after, demanding his contact information

"So... you wanna hang out today?" Chase asked over the telephone. He was sitting in his house, Omnisaurus on his shoulder, and the both of them were listening to Leon jabber over the phone.

"**Yeah! You should totally hang out at my house and we can play games and Duel and have fun together!"**

"Well... I only have one question to start off," Chase said.

"**Ask away,"**

"You like Dinosaurs?" Chase asked. Omnisaurus rolled his eyes.

Leon's smile was practically audible through the telephone. "**Yeah!"**

"Then I'm up for hanging out. When and where?" Chase asked.

"**Around lunchtime at my house! Be there or be square!" **

"A T. rex ain't square, believe me."

The two hung up.

"_Chase, you're still doing your weekly motorcycle drive around town today, aren't you?" _Omnisaurus reminded.

"Yeah, but I can do that after I hang with Leon. I've been meaning to do a little night riding, anywho. Plus, we can take the bike to Leon's place."

"_...As you might say- Let's rock &amp; roll!" _

"Same as always, I see." Chase and Omnisaurus headed off to get ready for the day.

"_Your plan is to... make a bonfire?"_

"Yeah, a nice, controlled bonfire. No one gets hurt, people will think it's just a late celebration of Yugi Day, and Leon is sure to take notice and check it out."

"_I see... well, you'll need a fire pit, wood, and a fire starter."_

"The last one's easy. As for the other two, I need your power."

"_Very well… it's yours."_

"Okay! Summon: Inpachi, Winged Dragon, and Giant Soldier of Stone!" The person held up a trio of cards.

A seal appeared below the boy, bright yellow in color, and he was soon joined by three monsters: A wooden dummy, a small blue dragon, and a large, stone knight.

"Winged Dragon, cut Inpachi down. Soldier, dig the fire pit."

The dragon and knight obeyed. Immediately, the Winged Dragon attacked the dummy, using its talons to chop the Inpachi into pieces, while the Soldier began digging a hole in the ground.

"_You're the non-violent type, I see…" _groused the voice. "_People like you are no fun."_

The boy waved it off and pushed his short blue hair, lighter in color than Haru's, out of his eyes. "Whatever. Starting a bonfire here at the fairgrounds is sure to attract him. Trust me. Now to spread the word."

Speaking of Leon- He, Hunter, and Cyrus were at the card store in town.

"Morning, Mr McLeod." Leon greeted the clerk.

"Hey, Leon. Your mom's not with you?" the clerk responded.

"Not today." Leon said. "Anyway, are there any Dinosaur themed packs in stock?"

"No, just the regular ones…" the clerk said. "But there's a Dino themed structure deck coming out next week."

"Okay then, tha-" Leon noticed chatter outside, a moderately sized group of kids and teens gathering around the store. "What the?"

Curious, the trio of boys and dog went outside, and they began asking around.

"Scuse me, what's the commotion about?" Leon asked a teenage girl with red hair, shuffling a Duel Monsters deck.

"Rumor has it there's a surprise post-Mutou Day bonfire," she replied.

"A bonfire?"

"Yeah! At the Fairgrounds tonight. Attendance is free."

"Sweet! I'll let Haru know." Leon pulled out his phone.

RRRRRRRRRRRING!

Haru was watching cartoons and eating cereal on the living room couch, Water Dragon draped over his shoulders, when he heard the phone ring. He yelped and dropped his cereal on the coffee table, before running to the kitchen counter where the telephone sat to answer it.

"Hello?"

"**Hey, Haru. It's Leon," **Leon replied. "**I just heard an interesting rumor."**

"Oh… Hey, Leon." Haru raised an eyebrow. "Rumor?"

"**Apparently, there's a surprise bonfire tonight as a late Mutou Day event, and it's free. Cyrus, Hunter and I are going, wanna come too?"**

"...bonfire? Um… I'll pass, if that's okay…"

"**Up to you, pal. See you later then." **Leon hung up.

"_What was that about?" _asked Water Dragon.

"Leon wanted me to come to watch a bonfire."

"_Bonfire? I didn't see any event like that on that schedule you brought home yesterday." _Water Dragon blinked his golden eyes. "_...I smell a Parasite trap.'_

"A Parasite trap?" Haru asked.

"_Yes…. in order to lure somebody, perhaps."_ Water Dragon yawned. "_This sounds like the work of one of the less subtle Parasites."_

"...Let's check it out, to make sure it's not a trap like you say…"

"_Good call."_

"Haruka?"

Most of the day came and went by. As the sun set, though, people were already gathering around a large fire pit with six separate bonfire stacks.

"Six stacks?" Cyrus wondered as he sat upon a bench, watching the proceedings.

"They must want it to be a big fire," Leon said. Then, Leon felt a tap on the shoulder. He turned, to see Chase leaning on the back of the bench, not wearing his dinosaur armor.

"Hey there," he greeted casually. "Heard about this surprise event. Supposed to start within the hour, right?"

"That's right," Leon said with a nod. "Can you hang out with us after?"

"Sure thing." Chase nodded.

"_Chase. Incoming Haru at five o'clock," _Omnisaurus alerted. Chase blinked, and turned around, to see Haru striding up to them with Haruka close behind. Ariel and Water Dragon were on his shoulders.

"Haru, you said you were passing," Leon said.

"He changed his mind," Haruka said for his little brother, noting that Haru was preoccupied. He seemed like he was looking for something- his green eyes were shifting from left to right, scanning the crowded fairgrounds in search of an unknown thing.

Nearby...

"Curse of Dragon, light the stacks. Element Magician, color the fires in the six Attribute colors. Let's give these guys the show we promised."

All of a sudden….

BOOM!

With a gargantuan blaze, all six stacks of firewood were set alight in the fire pit, each dyed in a different color: bright yellow, ruby red, cold blue, vivid green, royal purple, and rich brown.

Everyone was in awe, watching the colored fire in amazement.

"Whoa!" Leon and Hunter looked at the yellow fire. "This is incredible!"

"Amazing!" Cyrus stared at the green flames.

"Wow-wee…" Haruka was grinning widely as he stared at the red fire.

"_Yo, Ponytail, we need to talk," _Ariel piped up. She reached over to Haru's ponytail, and yanked on it, to get his attention away from the blue fire.

"Ow!" Haru winced, and glared at Ariel. "What do you want!?" he snapped. A few people gave him weird looks. "Sorry."

"_Drag 'n I were talking, and it turns out, we were right. This is the work of a Parasite... but at the same time, it's not what we thought."_

Haru practically jumped out of his skin. "Another Parasite!?" he yelped, before going quiet as he saw heads turn in his direction. "A-are you sure?" he whispered.

"_Yep, but it feels... controlled. Kinda like Chase's Fiend. Someone's controlling the Parasite… so I don't really think this is a trap at all." _

How wrong Ariel was… but for now, Haru continued to enjoy the blue fire's beautiful flickering. Eventually, Cyrus and Chase left, and it was only him, Haruka, and Leon.

As the two of them enjoyed the bonfire, someone approached them from behind. "Hey… I see you're enjoying the fires. They're pretty good, right?"

Leon nodded. "It's amazing how the fire is colored like the-"

The brunette stopped dead in his tracks. He recognized that voice. He turned around, and his eyes widened when he saw the speaker.

It was a boy who looked to be about his age. Short, fluffy, light blue hair framed a soft face like Leon's own, and he was wearing a blue sleeveless, and navy slacks. His vibrant blue eyes reflected the glow of the firelight as he made direct eye contact with Leon. "Long time no see, bro."

"Yukio… Wait, YUKIO!?" Leon jolted and put a hand to his mouth. "Wha- how on earth did you get here? I thought you'd moved to Arizona with dad!"

Yukio rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "If you must know, I snuck my way back here, then organized this little spectacle to get your attention," he said. "Worked like a charm."

"You made an amazing event just to get _my _attention?" Leon asked, Yukio nodded. "So... why all the effort?"

"Because I need your help." Leon found his shoulders being grabbed by Yukio, who got in his face. He began to speak with such intensity that Leon was taken aback. "After Dad got kicked out, he turned into a _drunkard_. The man can't hold a job down for three days without getting fired, and in the meantime I'm practically working myself like a mule just to keep the house from rotting and falling apart at the seams, while Dad drinks himself to sleep at nine in the morning. That's why…" Yukio began to tremble. "I can't… I can't live like that any longer. Leon, you have to help me! You're my twin brother! You _have to_!"

Leon looked into the face of his brother- into the face he hadn't seen in years. Silently, he struggled to process the terrible information Yukio had just related. His father, a drunkard. His brother, living in squalor. It was practically impossible for Leon to comprehend this… all he could do was try to accept it. However, one way or another, after a minute or two, Leon made his decision.

"I'll help you out, bro. No way am I letting my twin brother live like that." Leon took hold of Yukio's own shoulders, and in his eyes, Yukio could see a fire rivaling the intensity of the six he himself had created. "Tomorrow, Mom and I will take you to our lawyer. One way or another, you're coming to live with us. I swear on my deck." To prove it, Leon removed a hand from Yukio's shoulder and patted his deck box.

"You… You'd do that for me?"

"Yep. Brothers stick together." Leon smiled.

Yukio's arms fell to his sides, and he stood stock-still for a moment, until... "Thank you so much, Leon!" Suddenly, Leon found Yukio embracing him in a warm, loving hug. Leon chuckled, and hugged back, patting Yukio's back tenderly.

Wiping his tears as he broke from the hug, Yukio looked at Leon with a smile on his face. "By the way, since we still have the night with bonfire... wanna Duel?" He lifted his left arm, which had a Duel Disk strapped on. "This is pretty much all that's been keeping me sane for the past few years…"

Leon smiled, pulling his own Duel Disk. "Just like old times."

Both boys activated their Disks, as a holofield formed around the entire bonfire area. Haru, observing this, decided to sit on a bench at Water Dragon's urging, to see if the Parasite would try anything during the Duel.

"LET'S DUEL!"

-DUEL OPEN-

(Leon: 8000) (Yukio: 8000)'

"Me first!" Yukio drew six cards, and grinned. "Get ready to feel the thunder, Leo! I summon Inpachi in Attack Position. Check this cool trick out."

Suddenly, the brown fire began to flare. Then something emerged, jumping out of it. Landing on Yukio's field was a large wooden dummy, crudely carved in a humanoid shape with the number 18 painted on its chest in black . (ATK 1600)

"Inpachi, huh?" Leon grinned. "That's new. But how did you do that fire thing?"

"Just a fun trick I added to the duel. Monsters will come out of their Attribute's fire, instead of just being regularly Summoned. I'll explain it later, it's complicated."

"_Parasite," _Ariel hissed from Haru's shoulder, startling him.

"I set two facedowns and end my turn."

"Then, it's my turn." Leon drew. "I start with Spell Absorption…." He played a card, and a Spell arose on the field.

Haru's eyes widened. "_**That ain't Solemn Wishes."**_

"I rebuilt my deck. Now each time a Spell is played, I gain 500 Life points. Now to put it to use. I play Double Summon!"

Yukio flipped a face-down card over. "I activate Bad Reaction to Simochi!"

Leon blinked. "Wait, wha- URK!"

"Wait... he activated that _now_? Why not with Spell Absorption?" Chase boggled at the sight.

"...It's because Double Summon is a Spell Card," Haru said. "He waited for Leon to play a card that would trigger Spell Absorption to increase his Life Points, then Chained Simochi to it so he'd lose them instead."

Chase stared at Haru. "...Whoa. Leon's twin is good."

Leon grimaced at the Chain. "Nice one…" (Leon: 8000 - 7500) "But I can still use Double summon. Come out, Shining Angel and Harvest Angel of Wisdom."

The yellow fire blazed brighter, and two figures burst out, skidding to a halt on Leon's side. One was a handsome, blonde angel in Greco-Roman tunic and sandals (ATK 1400), and the other was… some kind of orange robot thing. (ATK 1800)

"This will cost me more Life Points, but I need this... I play Lightwave Tuning."

"Lightwave… what now?" Yukio asked, arching an eyebrow.

"This lets me turn one Level Four Light monster into a Tuner. Wisdom, accept the Lightwave Tuning!" Leon commanded. Harvest Angel of Wisdom began to vibrate, as though it were a tuning fork that had just been struck.

(Leon: 7500 - 7000)

"Now, I tune the Level Four Shining Angel with the Level Four Harvest Angel of Wisdom. Go for it, boys."

The two Fairies returned to the yellow fire….

"Synchro Summon! Shine your light, Light Dragon of the Magic Seal!"

The yellow fire blazed even brighter than when the Fairies had been summoned, and a magic seal like Water Dragon's erupted upon the ground below Leon.

"What the? A Seal?" Leon wondered. "Like the Water Dragon?"

Water Dragon smiled from his perch on Haru's shoulder. "_Ah… one of my brethren is taking the stage now."_

Soon a new Dragon emerged- but from the magic seal, not the fire. Unlike Water Dragon, it was a huge, majestic Western dragon, goldenrod scales glimmering in the firelight. White rune-lines ran ran across its body and wings. (ATK 2500)

"_It feels good to spread my wings..." _the dragon rumbled. "_Finally, I'm back in action!"_

"Wait... What?" Leon stared at the dragon, bug-eyed. "Did you just talk?"

Light Dragon laughed. "_That's right, kid!"_

Leon grinned. "Wow! This is totally awesome! So, you up for some action?"

"_When you are! Let's get this started!" _

"Awriiight!" Leon grinned. "On the turn Light Dragon's Synchro Summoned, I can banish two cards on the field. But in exchange, I have to skip my Battle Phase this turn. Light Dragon! Seal the Trap and the face-down!"

Light Dragon spread his wings, and his eyes shone with golden light…

"I activate my other Trap Card." Yukio's face-down lifted up. "Divine Wrath!"

Leon and Light Dragon's faces fell, and they stared at Yukio flatly. "_You're kidding."_

"Nope. I adapt, just like you." Yukio discarded a card from his hand. "I discard another Inpachi, aaaand…. Boom."

BOOM! Lightning suddenly struck down from the cloudless sky, causing Light Dragon to scream as he was hit and burst into shards.

"...Nice one, bro. I set a card and end." Leon set a card, and wordlessly gestured for Yukio to take his turn.

"I draw!" Yukio drew. "Hmm... Here's a good one. I play a spell called Spirit of the Wood. By destroying one trap on my field, I can special summon two Earth Monsters from hand."

Leon blinked at the Simochi card was swallowed up in the growth of a giant tree.

"Meet my friends, Silver Fang and Celtic Guardian." Yukio placed two Monster Cards on his Duel Disk, and two Monsters that practically everyone recognized appeared. Silver Fang was a large, silver-furred wolf with sharp teeth (ATK 1200), while Celtic Guardian was an elf swordsman wearing green and brown armor (ATK 1400).

Leon grinned. "You just played a Spell, so with Simochi gone, I get my Life Points back."

(Leon: 7000 - 7500)

All Yukio did was shrug and grunt something. "Meh. You like to lead in LP off the bat, so I just needed to get that advantage away from you. But that won't matter much. Prepare for a 4200 point hit, as my monsters all attack directly!"

Strangely, Leon didn't seem too fussed. "My turn to rain on YOUR parade, then. Mirror Force!" He flipped his face-down card, and Yukio groaned as all of his monsters were obliterated just as Silver Fang lunged forth.

"Dang it, Leon… I hate that card!" he complained.

Haru chuckled quietly, but yelped and scooted back on the back when Yukio gave him a glare.

"Well, I hate Bad Reaction to Simochi," Leon countered.

"...Touche." Yukio rolled his eyes. "Just take your turn."

"I draw... and you're in trouble. You think you could just get rid of my friend just like that? Well, I'm no fool. And now, I can play one of my favorite Spell Cards: Monster Reborn!" Leon slammed a Spell Card into his Duel Disk, and thrust a hand out as it activated. "Let's play! Light Dragon of the Magic Seal!" As the Seal reappeared, the Light Dragon pulled itself out the depths of the Graveyard, clambering to its feet eagerly. (ATK 2500)

(Leon: 7500 - 8000)

"_How satisfying to be able to return to battle!" _Light Dragon spread his wings, and gave a toothy smile to Yukio.

The blue-haired boy gulped. "Aw crud."

"Light Dragon, direct attack! Shining Sun!"

At Leon's command, Light Dragon spread its wings, and got into a running stance, hunkered down on the ground. The runes on its body began to glow, and so did its eyes, and before anyone could react, it charged forward, shining like the sun, and RAMMED straight into Yukio. The boy cried out as he was knocked onto his rear end and forced backward, skidding to a halt at the edge of the fire pit. (Yukio: 8000 - 5500)

"Oogh… That was a powerful hit," he croaked.

"You alright?" Leon hurried over to Yukio and helped him up. The blue-haired twin rubbed the back of his head as he staggered back to his feet, winced, and gave Leon a thumbs-up. "Alright. I end my turn, so you can go now." Leon patted his brother's back, and the two took their places once more.

Yukio swiped a card from his deck. "Then I draw, and play another Celtic Guardian."

The elfin warrior returned, and he looked pretty ticked off that Leon had smashed his buddy. (ATK 1400)

"Uh… Sorry about your pal..." Leon apologized. All that the new Celtic Guardian did was growl and brandish his sword. "My move?"

"I set a card, and yeah."

"Then it's my draw!" Leon drew a card, and gave his brother a wicked smile. "Okay now... Mystical Space Typhoon!"

The card hit the Disk, and a tornado rocketed across the field towards Yukio's side of the field. Yukio's face-down was caught within. The card, revealed to be Sakuretsu Armor, was torn to shreds by the sheer force of the tornado.

"Talk about luck of the draw!" Cyrus observed.

Hunter then spoke quietly to Cyrus. "Leon's been getting lucky draws for years. It's like he's got a guardian angel or something!"

Haru, listening in, thought about that, then looked over at Leon… and blinked. Sitting on Leon's shoulder, observing the battle without making any noise, was none other than Harvest Angel of Wisdom. "...Literally," he muttered.

"What?" Hunter asked, having overheard Haru's murmur.

Haru jolted, and shook his head. "Oh, uh, nothing, don't worry…"

"Light Dragon! Attack the Celtic Guardian! Shining Sun!"

Light Dragon of the Magic Seal roared a mighty roar that echoed across the fairgrounds, and charged for Celtic Guardian, shining bright.

Knowing what's about to happened, the Celtic Guardian stood his ground. Not faltering, he refused to even flinch. The Celtic Guardian soon hit in full force by Light Dragon, shattering into pixels. (Yukio: 5500- 4400)

"That'll do for now." Leon smiled, gesturing for Yukio to go.

Yukio drew a card… and hung his head. "Nothin' good here. go head."

Leon drew, and smiled. "Light Dragon, one more time!" Leon commanded, pointing at Yukio.

WHAM! Light Dragon rammed into Yukio once more, and he was knocked into the fire pit, a ways away from the green fire.

"WHOA! Someone help him!" Leon shouted in concern. Fear began to grip Leon, as Yukio was dangerous close to the fire. Sweat began trickling down his face, you could see the worry and concern right there in his eyes. Then, Leon's surprise, Light Dragon actually flew into the fire pit. With a look of compassion on his face, he gently picked Yukio up, getting the boy away from the fire. Leon was speechless, he just stood there and blinked as his Dragon carried his brother out of the fire pit and set him down gently near Leon. He tried to speak, but all that came out was complete gibberish.

"You… he… but the… Youuuughweh?" Leon sputtered, slumping over and giving Yukio and Light Dragon a positively hilarious expression: his eyes were wide and his mouth, dropped practically to the floor.

"_As one of your Partners, it is my duty to help you in any way that I can. Getting your beloved sibling safely away from danger is such a simple task." _Light Dragon smiled gently at Leon, giving him a friendly wink. "_Now let's finish this duel! We have an audience after all!"_

Haru, Ariel, and Water Dragon very nearly fell off the bench. "_WHAT?!" _all three chorused.

"You have a Duel Spirit too, bro?" Yukio asked.

Leon tilted his head, his baffled expression faded. "Too? What do you mean?"

Then, on Yukio's shoulder, something appeared: a cybernetic jester with a black visor displaying mathematical symbols for "eyes". It was green, had a creepy smile, and was generally just not a nice sight to look at. "Meet Krebons." Yukio introduced.

"_KREBONS!" _Suddenly, Light Dragon's smile turned into a frown. His warm gentle face turned serious and cautious. His claws, his fangs showing, and his wings and posture took a rigid, aggressive quality.

The creepy little harlequin on Yukio's shoulder laughed nervously. "_Light Dragon of the Magic Seal! How's it been? Haven't seen you or the other Balance Dragons in a while-"_

"_Can it, you little worm!" _Light Dragon snapped. "_Child, Krebons is one of the most dangerous Parasites in existence!"_

"Uh… what?"

Then Light Dragon thrusted his claw forward, violently grabbing Krebons, who writhed in Light Dragon's grasp. "_This Duel Spirit is a nasty piece of work. He's already ruined the lives of several humans. He doesn't deserve the honor of losing a duel. By the power of the Dragons of Balance, this Parasite will now be sealed away for all eternity!"_

A pair of wide eyes were displayed on Krebons's visor. "_Wait, can't we work something out?!" _he whimpered.

"Would someone tell me what's going on here!?" Yukio demanded.

Leon looked at Yukio. "From what I've gathered, Krebons is a bad guy and Light Dragon's sealing him away so that he can't hurt anyone."

Haru decided to pipe up. "Uh… Leon?" he said. "I… kinda know what's going on."

Leon and Yukio look at him. "Can you explain, please?" Leon asked.

"Um… Is the Duel over?" Leon and Yukio looked at one another. With a shrug, they looked back at Haru and nodded.

-DUEL OVER-

The ponytailed boy fidgeted with said ponytail. "If you say so… Um… Haruka," he asked his big brother, "is it okay if they can… visit?"

"_Not so fast, the Parasite's not sealed yet, and the bonfire's not over either," _Water Dragon whispered in Haru's ear.

However, the Parasite was very soon sealed. Light Dragon squeezed upon the minute Psychic-Type, which squealed in pain, before bursting into golden sparkles.

The crowd then watched as the colors of the fire faded back to normal colors.

"Aww, the colors are gone..." A boy said.

"_Leon." _Light Dragon said. "_Wisdom and I can restore the nice show. If you allow it."_

"Wisdom?" Leon asked.

"_I'm right here," _the Harvest Angel of Wisdom on his shoulder spoke up.

"Whoa! Harvest Angel of Wisdom?" Leon looked at his new friend. "I have two new friends?!"

"_Indeed you do." _Wisdom smiled, in as much as a faceless robot _could _smile.

With Leon just enjoying the company of his new Partners, Yukio just looked over at Haru."Well, how about you just explain things here, Haru?"

"Um… alright…" Haru fell silent for a little while… until Ariel floated up behind him and pushed him forward.

"_Make with the explanation already, Ponytail!" _she yelled in his ear.

"Okay, okay!" Haru sighed. He began speaking to the two in a hushed tone. "These Duel Spirits are basically, like, um... creatures that were made from the human imagination…. or something. There are, uh, two kinds. Partners are, well, good guys, and they like people, and Parasites are bad guys and they, uh... hurt people." Haru's shoulders slumped as he finished his rather weak explanation.

"So Partners have to seal away the Parasites, don't they?" Yukio inquired.

"I… I guess..." Haru mumbled, slinking behind Haruka to hide.

"...that's a shame. Now I don't have a buddy." Yukio sighed.

Haruka looked quizzically at his little brother. "You have quite the imagination, Haru. Is this a game you and Leon have cooked up?"

"It's… it's complicated, big bro…" Haru sighed. "Can we just g-go home?"

"C'mon, the bonfire's still going, and the fires are still nice, you know," Leon said.

Haru shook his head. "If it's all the same with you, I'd rather not… I'll tell you the whole story sometime soon… Just… don't tell Nicky or Cyrus or anyone, okay?"

"Sure." Leon nodded.

"Oh, Haru, can we visit the Card Shop before it closes?" Haruka asked.

"Again? But we, we went yesterday…"

"The debit card hasn't run out yet, and I got some extra cash mowing Satonaka-sensei's lawn. I can afford some cards for us." Haruka smiled at his little brother and ruffled his hair.

"You… mowed Mister Satonaka's lawn?" Haru looked up at Haruka with a mouth open in disbelief. "_You_ had the patience to mow five square acres of grass?"

"Yup. It's a miracle I didn't decimate his hydrangeas." Haruka laughed.

"Wow... Okay then. I… guess we can go." Haru held onto Haruka's hand, and the elder Taylor responded by patting his brother's back.

Yukio and Leon watched this bemusedly. "Is this, uh… normal for them?" Yukio murmured, casting a sidelong glance Leon's way.

"Uh-huh. Haru has… issues."

"_You're_ no prize yourself," Yukio retorted. "You have autism."

"And you ended up with a bad dad."

"...let's leave it at that," both said.

The Taylors got to the card store about fifteen minutes before closing time.

"Evening Lycan," greeted Haruka.

Lycan, the store owner, noticed Haruka, Haru hiding behind him as usual. "Oh! Hello, boys," he said. "You're here awfully late. Did you get held up by that bonfire?"

"It was amazing. The fires were colored!"

"Colored?" Lycan asked.

Haru nodded. "Uh… Uh-huh… They must've used, uh… metal salts to color the flame."

"Like they do with fireworks?"

"Yeah…"

"So, come for your usual cards?"

"Bingo." Haruka smiled. "Two packs for each of us, please."

"The Water and Fire Packs, right?" Lycan asked.

"Nah, just give us the regular booster packs."

The clerk obliged, giving them each two of the standard booster packs.

As Haruka paid for them, Haru opened his two, not expecting anything amazing. But he was surprised, as he found another copy of Dragon's Blade in one.

Come to think of it, Haru hadn't really examined either of the Strife Dragons he had won in much detail. He took a look at the card, and began reading it in a low voice.

"Dragon's Blade. Equip Spell. A Dragon-Type monster equipped with this card is unaffected by Trap Cards. If the monster equipped is not a Dragon-Type, destroy this card and the equipped monster."

He raised an eyebrow. "_**You don't see an effect like this everyday…" **_

"Whatcha got there, Haru?" asked Haruka,.

"A Strife Dragon card," the younger Taylor answered. "Part of some new series of twelve cards. I won a copy yesterday, and I just got this one.."

"I see. You and the crew trying to collect them all?" Haruka asked.

"Well.. I guess…" Haru shrugged. "Maybe… Leon has one, Cyrus has two, and I have three…"

"Six already?" Haruka blinked. "Impressive."

"I guess." Haru pocketed his cards: other than that one, most of the cards had been unimpressive.

"Your packs?" Lycan said to Haruka.

"My… oh, right!" Haruka opened up his packs, discarding the cellophane wrappers in a trash can "Please be here, please be here…" he murmured as he leafed through his eighteen cards. At the very end, he gasped in delight. "It is! AWESOME!"

"What did you get, Haruka?" Haru asked.

Haruka showed Haru the card: Firewing Pegasus. "I've been wanting this card for ages! Ever since I saw it when I was a kid, I loved it, but I could never find one until now!"

Haru then noticed a glow around Haruka, which began to slowly transfer into the card.

On his shoulder, Ariel's jaw dropped. "_Ponytail, are you seeing what I'm seeing!? A new Duel Spirit is being born!" _

"_**Being born?" **_Haru asked mentally.

"_Exactly! Look, look, look! You gotta see this!" _Ariel pointed towards the card, and to Haru's shock, he could see something emerging from it. First was a horse's head, then its barrel and hooves... And soon, Firewing Pegasus was born as a Duel Spirit, glowing in a gentle blue light. "_He's a Partner!"_

"Wow…" Haru breathed, staring intently at the new Duel Spirit as it floated up to Haruka and settled on his shoulder, Haruka not noticing for some reason. "That was amazing…"

"_Hello, Haruka," _the winged equine greeted.

Haruka, upon hearing this unfamiliar voice, looked around. "Huh? Haru, did you say something?"

"No... Look to your left shoulder." Haru pointed at his brother's left shoulder. Wondering what Haru was talking about, Haruka turned his head to the left, and nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw Firewing Pegasus sitting there, smiling widely. "I wasn't making up that stuff about Duel Spirits. You literally just now created that Duel Spirit on your shoulder."

Lycan looked from Haruka to Haru. "Um… Are you boys okay?" he asked.

"Yeah… um, just a little playing around," Haru said as a cover-up. He gulped and rubbed his arm, before giving Lycan a very fake smile. "We ought to be going, I mean, it's, uh, late and all… H-have a nice night…"

Soon they returned home.

"So now, Firewing's my Partner?" Haruka asked, closing the front door of their home before going to sit on the couch with his brother. Haru, Ariel, and Water Dragon had given Haruka the explanation on the drive home.

Haru nodded. "Yeah," he said. "I met Ariel and Water Dragon just yesterday. These are them on my shoulders."

"_Hiya!" _Ariel said.

"_Evening, Haruka," _Water Dragon greeted.

"Wow." Haruka leaned in and poked Ariel in the stomach, making her giggle.

"_That tickles!" _she laughed.

"So... these guys are good spirits. Right?" Haruka asked.

"Mhm." Haru nodded. "The bad guys are Parasites. Chase had one at the Duel, and Yukio didn't know it, but he had one too. They don't seem very strong, though…"

"_You haven't seen the worst of it yet, Haru," _warned Water Dragon. He stroked his white beard, pulling a frown. "_Trust me, there are many, many Parasites that are far more of a threat than those two buffoons."_

"That doesn't sound too good…" Haruka looked concerned. "Are you sure you're going to be okay, little bro?"

"Honestly… I don't even know anymore…" Haru heaved a sigh, his shoulders slumping, and fell to his side, resting his head in Haruka's lap. "Can we have dinner and watch TV, big bro?"

"Sure. Care to join us, Partners?"

"_I'm down," _said Firewing.

Water Dragon thought about it. "_That sounds fine by me," _he agreed.

Ariel nodded. "_What's on the menu?"_

"Shoyu ramen." Haruka grinned. "Mom showed me how to make it back when we lived in Japan."

"_What's ramen?" _asked Firewing.

"It's a kind of noodle soup. I'll show you while I'm making it. Haru, pick out a movie you wanna watch, okay?"

Over at Leon's home...

Leon and Yukio were speaking to their mother, Charlotte.

"So we need to do something, Mom," Leon said, concluding his explanation.

Charlotte put a hand to her mouth. "Yukio… is this true?"

Yukio nodded somberly. "Yeah."

"Oh no... you poor thing." Charlotte embraced her son. "Say no more. I'll talk to the other lawyers and get this done."

"So dad wasn't lying about you having an attorney?" Yukio asked.

"Having an attorney?" Charlotte chuckled. "No, son. I AM an attorney."

"So... you can handle it all yourself?" Yukio's eyes practically lit up like a little kid's on Christmas morning.

"I suppose so, yes." Charlotte smiled.

Yukio hugged his mother back. "Thank you so much, Mom."

Haruka smiled, as Haru slept on his lap. They had eaten dinner and shared with their Duel Spirits, and Haru had fallen asleep at the end of Bambi.

"_Oyasumi_, little brother," Haruka murmured, removing the hair tie that kept Haru's ponytail in place and stroking the preteen's long blue hair. He smiled at the Duel Spirits. "Can you three try to keep quiet while Haru's asleep?" he whispered.

The three nodded.

"_We'll be quieter than cats," _whispered Ariel. She floated away through the air, going up to Haru's room, and Water Dragon followed. Firewing stayed behind, sitting once more on Haruka's shoulder.


	3. Chapter 3

"So there's no delays? You're coming home next month like you promised?" Haruka asked over the telephone, pacing the living room with one finger in his ear to block out any unwanted noise.

"Hai. We're coming home as soon as we possibly can." This was the voice of the Taylor family's patriarch, Fuyuki Taylor. He and his wife, Hinata, were often on business in Japan, and were away from home for long time periods.

"That's good. Oh! By the way, we made a couple pals in the last week."

"Oh? Who?"

"A Dinosaur expert named Chase, and Leon's twin brother Yukio. He came back from his dad's house after a nasty divorce."

"I see. Is Haru okay?" asked Fuyuki.

"He's as jumpy as ever. But he's okay."

"Good. We added money like usual, and extra for that birthday."

"Birthday?" Haruka thought about it. "Umm… Cyrus's birthday, right?"

"Haru told us yesterday."

"Mm… If you say so." Haruka smiled. "Love you, Papa. Aitai yo."

"Love you, son. Sayonara."

Haruka hung up. "...Haru, c'mere!"

Haru soon stumbled into the living room. "Y-yes?" he asked.

"Cyrus' birthday is today?" Haruka asked.

"It's tomorrow, actually…." Haru rubbed his shoulder.

"Oh... How could I have forgotten?" Haruka hit himself in the head. "Did you get Cyrus a present? Do we need to?"

"Well… yeah, but I'm only doing this for Leon." Haru frowned. "Cyrus doesn't like me, remember?"

"I know, but I think it's about time you try to get along with Cyrus. He's a nice kid, after all."

Haru fell silent. "..."

"Leave the gifts to me."

"No... I have a gift."

"Oh... okay."

"I got invited too?" Yukio asked.

Leon nodded. "Yu-huh." He smiled. "I talked about it with Cyrus and he said you should come too."

"That was nice of him, I wanna get him a gift." Yukio smiled, then thought for a second. "Umm… I'm gonna make him something. What does he like?"

"Dragons... but what can you make?"

Yukio chuckled and produced a knife from his pocket. "You'll see."

Chase was at the local game shop.

"Scuse me, I'm looking some specific games," he said.

"Oh?" asked the clerk.

"I'm looking for the League of Legends spin-offs."

"Oh, that's not a problem. Lemme see what we have." The clerk began typing on the computer.

"League of Legends?" Omnisaurus murmured into Chase's ear. "What's that all about? Why do you want these games?"

"It's not for me. It's for Cyrus. Hanging out with him and the others over the week, I learned he's WAY into League of Legends. He's been raving about the game for a while, so I figured, hey, why not get him one or two of the spin-offs?"

"I see… good thinking." Omnisaurus nodded sagely.

"Thank you."

"Looks like we have two of the spin-offs. Curse of the Spear of Vengeance and Quest of the Purifier," the clerk said.

"I'll take both, then." Chase dug out his wallet and paid the required price. He was handed two brand new video games, still in shrink wrap, and smiled a winning smile at the clerk. "Thank you!"

"Sir, I'm gonna need tomorrow off."

"But why, Erika?"

"Tomorrow is my son's birthday, and I refuse to be busy at work when I could be celebrating with my little boy."

"I see... well, the crew's been saying we need a day off. I suppose we can take it tomorrow."

"Thank you, sir!"

"You're welcome, Erika. Wish your kid happy birthday for me."

"Will do."

Elsewhere...

"YES! Carnotus! Finish him!"

A huge, hulking warrior in dark grey armor bedecked with teeth and spines roared in fury. He raised a spear that crackled with lightning and rushed forward, towards the Big Shield Gardna that was standing in Attack Position, defenseless.

CRASH!

The defending Duel Monster shattered into pieces, and a boy in a baseball cap moaned in disappointment as his Life Points were depleted.

(?: 700 - 0)

"HA! I win!" his opponent, a girl in a jacket and sweatpants, cheered. "The Dino-Striker please, my good man."

The boy handed her a card. "As promised…."

The girl accepted the card, then offered the boy a hand up. "Thanks to you, I have a complete Dino-Striker deck," she said with an affected air of haughtiness. "Thank you very much!"

"Whatevs," the boy said. "What's with your dino obsession anyway, sis? You collect dino movies, cards, books…. heck, you're cuddling a Tartarus plushie right now."

"It's called Carnotaurus," she said, hugging said plushie. "Not Tartarus. Jeez, Justin, don't you know anything?"

The boy, Justin, rolled his eyes. "You've been flipping out about dinosaurs for a week now, Sarah. What happened?"

Sarah sighed overdramatically. "It's called being fascinated by something. So leave me be! I won fair and square!" She stroked the plushie on instinct and slid her other hand into her pocket, where the card she had won lay.

Although neither boy nor girl could see it, around the girl were the forms of several frightening-looking warriors, all bedecked in armor with fangs and scales and armed to the teeth. And yet, they were looking gently upon the girl, smiling.

These were her Partners, who watched over her and made sure she was kept safe. They seemed satisfied that she had won the Duel. They even wanted to look at her newly acquired card. One spoke. "She will surely be in good hands. I, for one, will not let her down."

The rest voiced their agreement, and blinked out of existence, returning to the cards that they were kept in.

Haru was busy in his room, painting on a canvas.

"Whatcha doing?" Ariel asked as she sat on the edge of the easel.

"Painting." Haru looked at his composition, frowned, and dipped his paintbrush in a tub of blue paint, watering it down with a dunk in a cup of water before covering a spot on the canvas. "Do you think this shade of blue is okay?"

"Perfect." Ariel nodded. "Why are you painting, though?"

"It's my gift to Cyrus. Don't look at it. I don't want anyone ruining the surprise."

"Artists," Ariel snorted with a roll of her eyes. "Whatever you say, boss man." She floated away, and went back into her card, grumbling all the while.

Kaibaland.

Leon had just told Haruka, over the phone, that they were going to Kaibaland.

His squeal of pure joy could be heard for miles.

"What has you so happy?" asked Firewing.

"KAIBALAND! WE'RE GOING TO KAIBALAAAND!" cheered the teenager.

"Whoa, easy there. You might hurt yourself. And what's Kaibaland?"

"It's the BEST THEME PARK EVER! Better than Dis-"

"Watch it," came Haru's voice from upstairs.

"Sorry. Anyway, it's one of the most popular theme parks in the country." Haruka grinned sheepishly. "I love it."

"Sounds fun." Firewing smiled.

"Yeah, you'll love it!" Haruka beamed.

"Indeed."

"So, that's everyone," Sarah chuckled. "You guys happy?"

"Indeed we are," came a chorus of voices. Sarah made a happy snort, and reclined on her couch.

"Yup… This rocks. Plus, tomorrow we have that gig at Kaibaland. I'm excited!"

"Be careful, those Duel Games have TOUGH opponents."

"Bah, don't worry. How hard can it be when I've got you guys?"

"Dragunity, Fortune Ladies, Laval, Neo-Flamvell, or worse. The Harpie Ladies."

"...Touche."

The next day at ten in the morning, Cyrus was at home, waiting anxiously for Leon, Yukio, and Hunter to come. "Come on guys... please…" The little blonde boy crossed his fingers and kicked his feet as he sat on his living room couch…

Ding-dong!

ZOOM! Cyrus ran straight to the door and answered it. The door creaked open, and sure as sunshine, there stood Leon, Yukio, Hunter… and the Taylor siblings.

Cyrus's expression of joy turned flat. "...Haru?" he said with some revulsion, eye twitching.

"AND Haruka," Haruka said, coming up behind Haru.

"HARUKA!" Cyrus happily brought Haruka in, Haru coming in behind them… only for Cyrus to slam the door in his face..

Haruka frowned. "Let my brother in," he said sternly.

Cyrus groaned. "Do I have to?"

"Yes."

"Fine…" Cyrus opened the door once more, and Haru was let in. He looked away as he entered, shaking somewhat. "You guys like danishes?" he asked.

"Why do you ask?"

"We have extra from breakfast. C'mon, Mom's waiting in the kitchen."

Haruka smiled. "Sure! We could use extra energy before THE BEST DAY OF OUR LIVES!"

Everyone winced at Haruka's shout, before looking at him strangely. Light Dragon popped out of Leon's deck box, and whispered in his ear, "Is he… okay?"

"He's fine," Leon thought. "It's Haru who has the problems."

"So it Chase coming too?" Leon asked.

Ding dong!

"...I'm willing to bet that's him right now!" Cyrus said excitedly. "I'll go get him, make yourselves at home and have some danishes."

"Who is Cyrus's mother anyway?" asked Light Dragon.

"Ah…" Leon shrugged as they walked towards the kitchen. "She's this big shot movie star, actually. Erika Strong is her name. She's the star of this year's big horror flick, River of Lost Souls."

Overhearing this, Haru shuddered. River of Lost Souls was an upcoming adaptation of a Japanese horror film that had scared the pants off him when he was little, a nasty little number called Namidanogawa.

"Honestly, I'm glad that movie's done... it's scary." Cyrus admitted, overhearing the conversation.

"You think that one was scary?" Haru asked. "You should've seen the original… Sheer terror."

"Really?" Cyrus looked at Haru curiously.

"Uh-huh… I watched it when I lived in Japan…" Haru bit his lip. "It was terrifying…"

Cyrus nodded. "Ouch. You like American movies better, then?"

"Uh-huh… I like kids' movies a lot…" Haru cringed. "I know, I'm weird…"

"It's cool. I like kid movies too, actually." Cyrus gave Haru a somewhat awkward smile. "Any, uh, favorites?"

"Um… I like that one… The Book of Life?"

"Oh, cool!" Cyrus smiled.

There came a knock on the door. "Is anyone gonna let me in?" Chase asked outside, annoyed.

"OH! Right!" ZOOM!

Chase was let in, looking miffed. "I even got you a present," he said with a pout, holding up a brightly-colored bag. "Where should I put it?"

"With the other presents in the living room." Cyrus gestured to where everyone else had set their things, and Chase followed suit.

"Welcome to the party," Haruka joked. "Now, about those danishes…"

"Cyrus?" a woman's voice called. "Have the guests arrived?"

From the kitchen emerged a woman. One look, and Chase and Haruka's jaws dropped at the sight of her.

She was a tall woman in her early thirties. Long black hair, gentle blue eyes, tanned skin, and a gorgeous figure... one wonders how SHE was Cyrus' mother when they barely looked alike.

"That's your mom?" Haru murmured to Cyrus. "But she doesn't look a thing like you…"

Cyrus rolled his eyes. "What, like everyone in your family has blue hair?" he snapped under his breath.

"Sorry."

"It's okay. Cyrus has more of his dad." Erika pointed at a small, framed photograph on the mantelpiece, one displaying a baby Cyrus with a blonde, mustachioed man. The man was laughing in the picture, holding Cyrus in his arms. He looked like he wore a military uniform.

"Mooom…" Cyrus blushed. "You don't need to tell my friends thaaaat."

"Your dad looks professional," Leon said. "I can understand now, since you got more from your dad look wise."

Cyrus's blush deepened. "Gaah, just go eat a danish…" he said, embarrassed out of his mind.

"Okay, okay. Then we can go to Kaibaland. The crew's all here, after all." Leon grinned.

After danishes (which were delicious), Erika got everyone in the Strong family's SUV, and drove off.

"MAN! I'm really excited for this!" Haruka shouted cheerfully. "Haru, it's been so long since we've been to Kaibaland in Sapporo! This is gonna be great!"

"Easy, Haruka," Leon said.

Haru groaned. Kaibaland Sapporo had been a decidedly unpleasant experience for him, one that had very nearly ruined his enjoyment of shoyu ramen forever.

"I read they're having Duel Games today," Yukio mentioned. "What exactly are those?"

Cyrus, in the shotgun seat, turned around to gape at Yukio. "They're having DUEL GAMES!?" he all but screeched, green eyes wide. "Are you SERIOUS?"

"You know about them?" asked Haruka.

"Of course!" Cyrus's face became a wide-eyed smile of sheer joy. "I've always wanted to try one!"

"What IS a Duel Game?" Yukio asked, having never been to Kaibaland.

Leon and Cyrus turned towards Yukio with unnerving smiles.

Yukio gulped.

"Uh… Yukio's never been to Kaibaland before. Remember?" Haru said in Yukio's defense.

Cyrus snapped out of it. "Oh yeah…" he murmured. "Sorry. Anyway, the Dueling Games are like big performances!" He closed his eyes and smiled, remembering one he may have been to a long time ago. "They have like a big show of a bad guy attacking, and then the contestant shows up and challenges the actor to a Duel, and it's so awesome! I've wanted to be in one for so long!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Haru noticed Erika hiding a bit of a proud smirk as Cyrus was talking, and not doing the best job. He raised an eyebrow at that.

"Ariel, Water Dragon, you there?" he thought. "Seems like Mrs. Strong is hiding something…"

"Something good, actually. She doesn't have any Parasites or Partners. There's no danger," murmured Water Dragon. "When did you get such an indication?"

"She has this smirk on her face… she's not hiding it very well…"

"When did she start smirking?" Ariel asked.

"Umm... Just as Cyrus started talking about Duel Ga-" Haru stifled a gasp. "She's planning to put Cyrus in one!"

"Don't ruin the surprise!" hissed Ariel, clamping her little hands over Haru's mouth. "I think it's a gift for Cyrus."

"True… I'd better keep my mouth shut." Haru bit his lip and said no more.

"According to the website, this month's Game is celebrating the completion of the new area, Jurassic Valley… whatever that is." Yukio shrugged.

"It's a new dinosaur themed area," Chase said. "I'm excited to see it. I heard they got holograms of dinosaurs set up to give it a better angle, and even robot dinosaurs you can interact with."

"...That sounds… terrifying…" Haru shivered.

"Pff." Chase laughed slightly. "It's not like Five Nights at Freddy's, Ponytail. You were so brave up on stage the other day, what's with you now? Ya look like you'd be scared of your own shadow."

Haru blushed. "I dunno…"

Haruka took over, patting his blue-haired brother's shoulder. "He's kind of like Yugi and Atem. He's all shy in public, but when he's performing he gets more confident."

"That's kinda cool." Cyrus smiled. "Is that why you got so good all of a sudden back at the Challenge, Haru?"

"Guess Dueling brought out the best of me… something like that." Haru smiled back slightly. "Um… I hope you like my present for you. I made it myself…"

"I made mine myself too," Yukio said.

"Really? That's so cool!" Cyrus folded in his arms, fists held up to his chest.

If Ariel had been on Haru's shoulder instead of in her card, Haru would have seen her with her jaw dropped. "I don't believe it. Are you actually getting along with people instead of cowering the minute they say hello?"

"Quiet, Ariel, don't ruin the moment."

Eventually, the SUV wound up in a parking garage, and Cyrus and his friends (and Haru) were strolling through the main area of Kaibaland.

"Wow! This is going to be so much fun!" Cyrus said.

"But before we can go running around, we have to go see someone," Erika said. Everyone looked at her curiously. Who could they possibly need to visit on a day like this? Noticing the expressions on everyone's faces, Erika rolled her eyes good-naturedly and sighed. "I know those looks. It's just a pal I know. He works here."

"Oh, okay!" Cyrus, understanding almost immediately, nodded brightly and held onto his mother's hand.

Leon and Haru exchanged a glance.

"You don't think…" murmured Leon.

"I do very well think," Haru answered as the group headed to the reception area.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for Joe Murray," Erika said, addressing the employee at the reception desk.

The employee, a gangly, acne-scarred young man, blinked lazily. "Joe Murray? Down the hall to the left," he said in a voice that sounded as though he'd been up too late last night, pointing past the desk towards a hallway out of the public view.

"Thank you." Erika pushed through the turnstile that led into the office, led the others down the hallway, and gently knocked on the left door at the end. The door slammed open, making everyone jump back a bit as they saw the culprit- a man with a very bad shave and nasty-looking stubble, an unlit cigarette in his mouth and a lighter in his hand, cursing.

"What d'you want, I'm exhausted and I have no patience for any more whiny brats asking where the bathroom is…" he grumbled.

"Joe. It's me, Erika."

"OH! Erika." The man perked up, and removed the cigarette from his mouth. He coughed a bit awkwardly. "What brings you here?"

Erika gestured to Cyrus and co. "It's my son's birthday party, and I'd like to get him to participate in one of today's Duel Games."

Cyrus's jaw dropped.

"Knew it," thought Haru.

"Calling in that favor from high school?" Joe asked.

"Yeah."

"Alright then, I can make Cyrus and his friends the heroes in the Jurassic Showdown Duel Game…" Joe fiddled with his lighter. "Just lemme get to the computer, and you'll be all set. I think I can squeeze you guys in at two this afternoon."

"Thanks, Joe."

"You got me into the Duel Game?" Cyrus asked.

Erika nodded and ruffled her little boy's hair. "Just for you, Cyrus."

Haru snorted. "And apparently for the rest of us."

Joe did add in one thing. "As such, you should head to Jurassic Valley, so you know where you'll be performing."

"We're going to Jurassic Valley!?" squealed Haruka.

"Let's get going." Erika said.

The group excitedly headed out to see the new area…. well, excitedly save for Haru.

Haru's first impression of Jurassic Valley was… well, that it was pretty weird. On the surface, it looked, strangely enough, like a Wild West town, the kind that one sees in old Western movies about dashing buckaroos with names like Django and Sabata.

But there was more inside, past the entry gate. Now it looked more like a cross of dinosaur times and the Wild West. Bars and buildings had prehistoric themes, and games focused on Dinosaur-type Monsters with a Wild West flavor- for example, Mammoth Hunting, a shooting gallery where the targets were models of the monster Mammoth Graveyard, to be knocked down with toy bullets. In addition to this, there were robots roaming the area designed to look like dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes. Haru looked nervous as he saw a Troodon pacing the dusty pavement near them.

Meanwhile, Chase was in pure bliss. "Dinosaurs! Everywhere! Heeeeeee!" he cheered.

"Chase is in overexcited mode," Cyrus said, as Chase ran to a robotic Saurophaganax.

"Hello there," Chase greeted the dinosaur.

It started chasing him.

"AAAAAAUGH!" Chase screamed as he ran away from it, the robot barrelling down the path after him. The thing pursued him up, down, and all around Jurassic Valley, scaring children, startling adults, and bowling Haru over several times.

"What were you saying about it NOT being like Freddy's?" Haru sniped at Chase as a park employee ended up having to deactivate the robot.

"The kinks haven't been worked out of the robots yet," the park employee admitted. "But we hope to have the dinosaurs be more approachable by the end of the month. The ones in the town square should be okay, though."

"Thanks," Chase said in gratitude. He was on his knees, breathing heavily and sweating bullets after the intense workout.

"So, you the kids playing in the Duel Game for the 'opening' of the valley town?" the lady asked.

"Yeah!" Cyrus pumped a fist in the air. "I'm gonna be the star!"

"I see. Well, you'll need wardrobe." The lady looked a bit smug. "Also, as the leader, you can pick a dinosaur to be with you guys in the event."

"Um…" Cyrus thought for a minute. "I… don't know anything about dinosaurs."

"I got you covered," Chase said, patting Cyrus on the back. "We'll take an Ankylosaurus, please," he said smoothly.

"Okay then. Let's head to the wardrobe to get you decked out, then we'll ready the dinosaur and see if the outlaw character's ready."

"Gotcha!" Cyrus said, as he and the others followed the employee.

Haru picked nervously at a thread on his outfit. He had been forced to abandon his usual scarf-sweater-slacks combo for a frankly ridiculous cowboy costume. "Waaah…" he whimpered. "Why do we have to dress up too? Cyrus is the only one Dueling…"

However, Haru was surprised as Haruka, also in costume, offered him his scarf. "They said we can add our own touch to feel more comfortable." Haruka smiled. "Want me to knot it around your neck like a bandanna?"

"Yes please," Haru said quickly. Haruka nodded, and began to tie the scarf around his neck.

"That good?"

"Mhm…"

"Why's your scarf so important, anyway?" Ariel piped up, popping up on top of Haru's head.

"None of your business," Haru growled under his breath.

Sarah, holding her Carnotaurus plushie, was in a different changing area, putting on a similar cowboy's costume.

"Sarah!" A kid called out.

"Umu?" Sarah turned her head. "What's up?"

"It's me! Justin!"

"Oh, Justin!" Sarah welcomed her brother over with a grin. "What's up?"

"I'm in the Duel Game!"

"...Wha?"

"I'm playing a civilian in the valley. Like the son of the guy running the saloon."

"Ah. Sounds pretty good!" Sarah chuckled. "I'm playing the outlaw!"

Justin looked surprised. "Wait, what? You're the outlaw?"

"A-yup." Sarah wrestled with a leather boot for a minute before finally getting it onto her foot with help from Justin. "I'm gonna be rampaging all over this place. Wait till you see my co-star in the show… Since we've still got a couple hours until we have to go, wanna check out the VR race track?"

"Ooh, sure!" Justin grinned and helped his sister up.

"How 'bout a bet?" Sarah smirked.

Justin looked intrigued. "Name the details," he demanded.

"I wanna bet on who'll win the Duel Game. If I win, you have to buy me lunch. If my opponent wins, I have to buy you lunch."

"You're on!" Justin snickered. "Hope you don't mind having an empty wallet after lunch."

After our heroes got dressed and had some lunch, they whiled away the time until the game began by playing around in Jurassic Valley. Chase convinced the others to come on a roller coaster (Haru puked); Cyrus got everyone to watch a dinosaur-themed short film (Haru screamed); Haruka started a game at the shooting gallery (Haru won).

"You feeling better, Haru?" Cyrus asked as Haru put away the toy rifle from the game.

Haru smiled a bit. "Uh-huh… sorry about freaking out during the movie…"

"It's okay," Cyrus said. "You were pretty good on the shooting gallery, too."

"It's my first time, actually…" Haru murmured, tapping his fingers together. "Um… It's almost time for the game, right?"

"Yep. You guys ready to do this?"

Haruka gave Cyrus a thumbs-up, as did Chase. Leon nodded happily, and Yukio shrugged.

"I guess…" Haru fidgeted with his scarf.

It was a joyous day in Jurassic Valley, as guests and 'townsfolk' all gather for the grand opening on the new saloon, In the town square, 'Mayor' Erika came onstage for the big event. (They insisted that a movie star have this role.)

"Ladies and gentlemen, humans and dinosaurs alike!" Erika pronounced with true theatrical flourish. "We are gathered here today to commemorate the opening of our beloved town's brand new saloon!"

The audience cheered happily- humans clapping and cheering, dinosaur robots roaring in glee.

But all this celebration came to an end very quickly

"Liopleurodon? A rampage, if ya please."

Suddenly, people were panicking as a Liopleurodon leapt into the middle of the crowd and began rampaging, running wildly about and roaring, occasionally lashing out with its tail and claws at people and just barely missing. This frightening display scared dozens of people and dinosaurs, and had people running this way and that to hide.

"That's enough, Liopleurodon. Stand down." Someone new came into view- Sarah, in a dark hat and vest, a Duel Disk strapped onto her arm and a toy gun in a holster on her belt.

The Dinosaur obediently ceased its thrashing, going stock-still. Sarah grinned evilly as she surveyed the terrified populace.

"Well, now!" she said loudly. "I bet ain't none of you pansies have the gumption to stand up to me while I take over this town!"

But then, a sound began to fill the air- the sound of a harmonica being played, pretty well too.

"Who's playin' that thing?" Sarah looked around frantically, trying to pinpoint the source of the sad, slow melody.

Soon, she found the source- An Ankylosaurus trotting casually into the town. On its back was Cyrus, sitting in a saddle and playing the harmonica. The robot stopped, and let Cyrus down.

"I aim to clean this here town up," he said in a rather convincing cowboy accent. "Startin' with the likes of you."

"Just try it!"

"Stand back, pal," Cyrus said to the Ankylosaurus. It complied, and lumbered away. When it was gone, Cyrus raised a Duel Disk. "I challenge you to a Duel, you no-good varmint."

"Varmint, am I?" Sarah asked with a smirk. "Well, you're about to see just what this varmint can do."

"DUEL!"

-DUEL OPEN-

"Ladies first." Sarah drew six cards, looked over her hand, and selected a card. "I'll start with Dino-Striker Euceph!"

She played her first monster, and a totem pole rose on the field behind her.

"Watch as the Euoplocephalus Spirit comes to life!"

The totem began to glow with white-blue light, as something appeared in front of it. It looked like the ghost of a dinosaur- a Euoplocephalus, to be exact. The dinosaur spirit shone brightly for a second, then began to reform into a humanoid shape. It took form, and became a stocky, dark-skinned man in furs and leather, a large shield and a bone club in his hands. He pounded the club on the shield and let out a shout of bestial fury that made everyone watching shiver. (ATK 1300)

"Meet Dino-Striker Euceph!"

"Those are the Dino-Strikers?" asked Chase, who was playing as a deputy to 'Sheriff' Cyrus.

Leon shrugged. "I guess."

"With Euceph's ability, you can't attack any other Dino-Strikers I play except him," Sarah said. "And with a Dino-Striker on the field, I can bring in Dino-Striker Futabus in Attack Position."

The totem pole glowed brightly again, and this time, the dinosaur was a Futabasaurus. It coalesced into the shape of a short old man in blue robes, carrying a long, crooked wooden staff. (ATK 100)

"And with two facedowns, I end my turn."

"Then I draw." Cyrus grabbed a new card, and looked over his deck. He was smiling at his starting hand. "Alright, I play Yosenju Shinchu R!"

"What the?" Sarah was baffled by the card Cyrus held up. It was half orange and half green, looking like someone had fused a Monster and a Spell Card together. Cyrus placed the card in a slot on his Duel Disk unconnected to his five main areas, and something rose on his side of the field.

"Did… someone cut a tori gate in half?" Haru, hiding behind a barrel, asked Haruka.

"Is that a Pendulum card?" asked Haruka.

"...I guess, but… why did they have to make it half of a torii gate?"

The card that had arisen on the field was the right half of a torii gate, the traditional entry gate to a Shinto shrine. It was blue and white in color, and had a carving of a fearsome demon with an angry face on it. It stood there, not doing much.

"What is that thing?" Sarah asked. "How is that a monster?"

"It's a Pendulum Monster," Cyrus said. "They haven't seen much play since around 2014, but they're pretty awesome. See, they can be Monsters or Spells depending on where ya put them."

"Pendulum Monsters," groaned Ariel, lifting Haru's cowboy hat to hide under it. "They think they're all that and a bag of chips just because they get to be Monsters and Spells at the same time. Bunch of jerks."

"I could not agree more," huffed Harvest Angel of Wisdom.

"So what does the monster do?" Sarah asked.

"In the Pendulum Zone, if I have another Yosenju in my Pendulum Zone, I can turn his Pendulum Scale all the way up to Eleven for one turn!"

"But there isn't any." Sarah pointed out.

"Oh, is that so?" Cyrus leveled a smirk at Sarah that made her draw back in surprise. "I play Yosenju Shinchu R's other half, Yosenju Shinchu L!"

Soon, what looked like the other half of the torii gate, displaying a blue demon's face contorted in anguish, arose from the ground, connecting itself to the first half. (Pendulum Scale: 3/3)

"Not so fast! Activate Trap Card! Striker Rampage!" Sarah flipped a card over. "So, these guys count as Spells now, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Then by tributing Futabus, I can destroy them with Striker Rampage!" The elder Dino-Striker exploded into pixels. "Euceph! Rampage and destroy the Yosenju Shinchu!"

Euceph hollered and rushed for both of the Shinchu, swinging his club and shield around wildly. With two strong and forceful swings, the two Pendulum Monsters were smashed into pieces, Euceph then smashed the pieces into small pieces and just kept smashing the remains of the Shinchu monsters, until Sarah ended up having to call him off.

"These guys are kinda violent, aren't they?" Cyrus asked with some disdain.

"Nah, they just love excess. Continue your turn."

"Fine…" Cyrus sent the two cards two cards to the graveyard, and summoned a new monster. "I Normal Summon Kujakujaku."

The monster that was summoned was a large male peacock, its iridescent feathers splendid in the noonday sunlight. Weird, snakelike shadows were cast upon, or within, its elegant tail plumage. It stood silently in front of Cyrus, eyes dark. (ATK 1200)

"That's a pretty bird," Sarah complimented.

"A pretty bird with a powerful effect." Cyrus took Kujakujaku's card off the field and placed it in his Graveyard. "By Tributing him, I can add Level Four or lower Wind Monster to my hand from my deck."

"That all?" Sarah asked.

"Eh, no. I set two cards, and end my turn."

"Then I'm up!" Sarah drew a card and activated a facedown card. "I play my other facedown, Pot of Greed." Sarah drew two more. "And now with Double Summon, I call upon two more Dino-Strikers, the Level Two Iguan and the level four Maiura."

Two more spirits appeared, an Iguanodon and a Maiasaura. They coalesced into a large woman in cloth, looking rather pregnant (ATK 1800) and a nervous-looking young boy hiding behind her (ATK 1000)

"Thanks to Maiura's power, I can special summon another Dino-Striker from my deck with me taking damage equal to the monster's level times 300. I summon the level 5 Carnotus, and the Level four Tritops!"

Two more dinosaur spirits emerged, and transformed into a lean man with sharp tooth decorations on his leather armor and a stocky man holding a shield even larger than Euceph's and carrying a trident. (ATK 1400, 1200)

"...Level Five… Level Four… Nine times three hundred… You're paying twenty-seven hundred life points?!" Cyrus gaped as Sarah felt the damage from Maiura's effect.

(Sarah: 8000 - 5300)

"I have my reasons. Now for their effects: since Carnotus was special summoned via a Dino-Striker's effect, I get one more draw." Sarah drew. "Next, Tritops gains 100 Attack Points for each Dino-Striker on the field."

Tritops smiled a smile of sharp teeth and twirled his trident. (ATK 1200 - 1700)

"Now for our youngest member, Iguan. This young Tuner's Level instantly becomes equal to the level of the Dino-Striker on the field with the highest Level."

Iguan, hiding behind Maiura still, smirked and blew a raspberry at Cyrus as his Level increased to 5.

"Wait... A level five Tuner, and a level five non-Tuner... oh no..."

"That's right! I tune Iguan with Carnotus!"

Carnotus offered Iguan a brotherly fistbump. Iguan took it, grinning, and both of them were consumed by white light.

The lights merged together into a bigger light, and the growl of a wild creature echoed low around the field. Under Haru's hat, Ariel shivered, and so did the Water Duelist himself.

"Synchro Summon! Come out and play! Ancient-Striker Similon!"

(5+5=10)

Something leapt from the light- a huge warrior wearing the skin of a saber-toothed cat, bright fire swirling around his muscular arms. Behind his long, wild beard, he had a snaggle toothed grin, and he had war claws on both hands. (ATK 3600)

"Next, the card I drew thanks to Carnotus will now revive him! Monster Reborn!"

Carnotus came back proudly. (ATK 1400)

Leon's eyes widened, and he began making quick calculations of the ATK of Sarah's monsters in his head to try and figure out how much damage Cyrus was about to take. "Whoa... Similon has 3600, Carnotus has 1400, that's 5000 already…. Plus, Tritops's 1700, Maiura's 1800, and Euceph's 1300, that's... ninety eight hundred…"

Haru and Haruka paled. "Cyrus is toast," Haru said.

"Strikers! Attack Directly! Ancient Stampede!"

The five warriors charged right at Cyrus…

"Go, Hyper Refresh!"

"Hyper Refresh?" Sarah wondered. The five monsters slammed into Cyrus, but he just grinned.

(Cyrus: 8000 - 6200)

"But... how can you have life points?!" Sarah gaped at Cyrus's Life Point display. "You cheated! You had to!"

"Nope, Hyper Refresh works whenever the combined Attack Points of all your monsters is HIGHER than my Life Points. As a result, this card doubled my Life Points before your posse attacked, so my Life Points never came CLOSE to hitting zero."

"B-but.. How? Why? That's just cheating!" Sarah growled, and Haru and Leon shuddered as they felt some sort of malevolent presence in the area.

"Light Dragon... how dangerous can Partners be when angered?" Leon asked his Partner.

"Extremely dangerous. Especially when it comes to savages like the Dino-Strikers."

But Sarah looked at her hand. There were no Spells or Traps to play, and no more moves this turn. "I end."

"My turn!"

Suddenly, the speakers set around the duel location began playing music.

(insert song: Answers)

"What the?" Haru and Leon looked around.

"I draw!" Cyrus drew. "Now… I play my second face down! Dragon's Moon!"

Hearing that name, Haru and Leon went pale.

"He's using a Strife Dragon card!?" hissed Light Dragon.

"Unbelievable!" Water Dragon growled.

The facedown flipped up, as a large, deep red moon began to materialize overhead. All of the Dino-Strikers on the field looked up at the moon, and dropped their weapons, eyes widening in fear. Even Cyrus was unnerved by the moon's appearance.

"Okay…" Cyrus gulped. "Let's see… I take two Dragons with 2500 Attack or more from my deck, and banish them." The Boy took out Armed Dragon LV 10 and LV 7. "Now, every card on the field is banished, no questions asked, and the owners take five hundred damage for each banished card they controlled!"

"W-What kind of power is this!?" Haru gasped.

Then, everyone watched as the moon began break and crack, with red light shining out the cracks, as they grew larger. Pieces of the moon began to crack off, raining down upon the field in small pieces… pieces that began to increase in size.

As the pieces crashed down, people retreated into their hiding places, and even the robots looked in fear. They did not know whether to stay or run.

"The Moon Dragon is coming!" The Light Dragon shouted, tail between his legs.

Water Dragon dove under Haru's hat, where he and Ariel cowered, both shivering.

"I don't wanna die!" Ariel wailed.

"Is the Moon Dragon THAT dangerous?!" Leon asked.

"It has enough power to completely destroy your entire world!"

All Haru and Leon could do was watch, as the moon shattered. The pieces, all alight with dark fire, were crashing all over Jurassic Valley. Some even hit dinosaur robots, utterly destroying them. Giant holographic holes were left in the ground where some impacted…

...and when they were gone, a huge dragon arose on the Dueling field. Twice the size of Light Dragon, towering over the heads of everyone in the park area, it was covered in slimy, sickly white scales and had pale green eyes. Its ugly mouth was filled with teeth like needles, and its whole body was covered in thin, sharp spikes. It threw its head back, and made a hideous screech that pierced everyone's ears like a knife.

"Strife Dragon of the Moon! Send every card on the field into the Void!" Cyrus commanded.

The dragon breathed in, and expelled from its mouth a huge burst of white fire that spread across the whole field, consuming all of the Dino-Strikers. The clan of primitive warriors began to scream as they were devoured whole by the flame, their armor and weapons melting, their hair and skin burning to a crisp, even their bones being roasted black. Not a single one was spared, not even Maiura. Their howls of pain and fear echoed across the park as their bodies were burned in the hungry blaze.

When the dragon stopped breathing fire, all that was left of the Dino-Strikers was a pile of white ash that the wind lifted up and blew away, and a deep, empty silence.

The Moon Dragon then faded away, as the Duel continued.

(Sarah: 5300 - 2800)

"Now for the fun part!"

(insert song: Light the Fire Up in the Night -Dual Mix-)

"I play Card of Demise! Anyone knows how this card works." Cyrus smiled and drew five cards. "Now, get ready for some pain, because I just drew TWO more Yosenju Shinchu, both L and R!"

Both halves of the torii gate arose once more. (Pendulum Scale: 3/5)

"And now… Let's go! Pendulum Summon!"

"Uh… What's a Pendulum Summon?" Haru asked.

"It's this dumb thing Pendulum Monsters can do," Ariel answered, her voice still a bit shaky from the Dragon's Moon card. "When you have two of them in your Pendulum Zones, you can summon Monsters from your hand that fall between the levels of their Pendulum Scales. Since Cyrus has one with Pendulum Scale Three in his left zone and one with Pendulum Scale Five in his right, he can only summon Level Four monsters. You can also summon Pendulum Monsters that have been destroyed and sent to your Extra Deck, but people don't really do that all that often."

"It can be helpful for setting up for something big," Water Dragon said. "I think I know what Cyrus is planning…"

"Alright, let's go! Pendulum Summon! Mist Valley Soldier and Cyber Falcon!"

Soon, two monsters appeared- a robotic avian (ATK 1400), and a rugged, ponytailed man in blue, with huge, pale blue wings, holding two small swords. (ATK 1700)

"Time to tune! My two monsters are gonna Tune together for a Synchro Summon!"

The dark-haired man, Mist Valley Soldier, clashed his swords together and raised them to the sky, a series of bright green and white rings forming around his body. Cyber Falcon burst into four brightly-glowing motes of light, which began to orbit around Mist Valley Soldier at high speeds. As the rings and stars aligned, a large green seal formed, a twister erupting from the center and surrounding the alignment.

"Synchro Summon! Spread your wings, Wind Dragon of the Eons!"

The rings began to change form, transforming into a bright green beam of light passing up into the heavens. As the light faded, a shadow within the beam grew clearer, eventually revealing itself to be another dragon, standing on four strong legs and coated in an armor of silvery scales. The dragon spread its wings behind it, the thin membrane that allowed it to fly shining vibrant emerald. It seemed much more benevolent than the Dragon's Moon, and it roared in pride as it surveyed what was to be its newest conquest. (ATK 2800)

"BROTHER!" Water Dragon and Light Dragon called.

Wind Dragon turned, and saw the two Dragons, who had come out of hiding once the Dragon's Moon had disappeared. A wide smile grew on his face. "My brothers!" he shouted happily. "It is good to see you once more!"

Then, a bemused look grew on his face as he inspected Water Dragon. "My, Water Dragon, you've gotten puny, haven't you? Why are you so scrawny now, brother?"

"...blame the design of my card." Leon chuckled slightly as he saw Water Dragon blush deep red.

"Now to end this. Wind Dragon! Attack directly! Storm of the Ages!" Cyrus commanded, throwing a hand forward. The dragon then took a deep breath, creating a vortex of wind as he gathered all the air he could in his mouth..

...And let it loose. A burst of wind blasted across the Jurassic Valley, blowing away everyone's hats and knocking Sarah back three feet. (Sarah: 2800 - 0)

"That dragon has lungs..." Erika said, impressed by the hologram.

Haru nodded mutely, unable to believe his eyes. "That was amazing…"

\- DUEL OVER-

The holofield, and the holograms that came with it, vanished, restoring Jurassic Valley to normal and allowing everyone to come out of hiding. The dinosaur robots had mostly wandered off, not wanting anything to do with the humans for the time being, and Sarah sighed and got down on one knee.

"Y'all are purty good," she grumbled. "You win. I ain't gonna bother with the likes of this town no more. Cowpoke's honor."

"A gal of her word eh?" Cyrus folded his arms and smiled. "Sounds like a plan, missy. Shake on it."

"Deal," Sarah said, offering Cyrus a hand. The Wind Duelist nodded and shook it. He then helped Sarah up.

"Six Shootin' Cyrus is the name," the cowboy-dressed kid said casually. "Today happens to be my eleventh birthday. Your name, missy?"

"Sarah. No cool western name." Sarah blushed. "Ah… happy birthday. You're really good, for a kid."

"Wanna hang out with us?" asked Cyrus.

"Sure thing!"

"Is it over?" Someone poked his head out of a barrel, holding tight to his hat. He brightened when he saw that the holofield was gone. "Phew! That barrel was getting cramped." He popped out of the barrel, revealing himself to be Justin, and grinned as he caught Sarah's attention. "You lost, eh? Well, a bet's a bet."

"Oh, hey there Justin," Sarah said. She sighed. "And now, I owe you lunch. What a bummer…"

"You Sarah's pal?" Cyrus asked.

Justin nodded. "Yup. Justin Harvey at your service, and Sarah here owes me lunch."

"You can hang out with us too! I'm Cyrus!" Cyrus grinned and stuck out a hand. "Let's be friends!"

Erika, watching from a bench, chuckled. "That boy certainly does get along with everyone."

Meanwhile, Leon was looking intensely uncomfortable. Haru thought this was a bit strange- normally, Leon would be ecstatic that his friend had won. Now, he was fidgeting with his hands and looking down towards his feet. Then, all of a sudden, his head snapped up and he looked in Cyrus's direction, and he began walking towards the victorious Duelist.

"Cyrus... Can I ask a favor?" he asked as he approached, rubbing the back of his head..

"What's up, Leon?" Cyrus asked.

"Can you take Dragon's Moon out of your deck?" Leon asked. "That card is just scary… and you know I'm not easy to scare."

Cyrus looked puzzled for a minute, before frowning. "Why should I?" he asked edgily. "It's my deck, so I can do what I want."

"I'm not the only one intimidated by that card.. You scared all the dinosaurs away, and you nearly made Haru pee himself."

Haru flushed red at that comment.

"And I've seen several people look at you like they're afraid you'll bring it out again."

"Nuh-uh," Cyrus said, shaking his head. "My deck, my cards, my business. Just because it's scary doesn't mean I can't use it."

Leon sighed. "Just be careful, okay? That card's a monster."

"Anyway, don't we have a birthday to enjoy?" Sarah reminded.

That caused everyone to brighten almost instantly. "Oh yeah!" Cyrus beamed. "I forgot all about that! Haru! Haruka! Get over here! We have a birthday to celebrate!"

Haru jolted slightly, but obeyed, Haruka trotting behind. As they walked, meeting back up with Cyrus's mother and heading back to the changing rooms to get their normal clothing, Haru noticed something on Cyrus's shoulders. Three dragons.

Duel Spirits. Three Dragon Duel Spirits, to be precise: Baby Dragon, Petit Dragon, and Wind Dragon of the Eons. They were speaking in hushed tones, apparently concerned about Cyrus.

"Are you sure Moon Dragon's not a threat?" Petit Dragon asked.

"Absolutely." Wind Dragon of the Eons nodded solemnly. "I faced the beast in battle ages ago, and destroyed it. The card in Cyrus's deck is nothing more than a crude, if nightmarish, copy."

"Good. The last thing we need is Cy-Cy getting hurt," Baby Dragon said. "Even if he can't see us, we have to protect him. That's what friends do!"

Haru cringed.

Later, it was close to dinner time, and the group was together at the best restaurant in Kaibaland, a classic American-style diner.

Cyrus marveled at the prize he'd won from the Duel Game- a state of the art, fresh from product line Duel Disk, with a dinosaur theme (naturally). Rather than eating his chicken salad, he was holding the Disk to the light, grinning silently.

Chase was marvelling it too; rather, he was practically drooling all over it. "It's so beautiful," he breathed, staring with glee at it like it was Christmas and he had opened his first present.

"Um... You're not a Dinosaur Duelist, though. You're a Wind Duelist," Haru pointed out as he nursed his hamburger.

"It's still super cool," rejoined Cyrus.

"I'll say," added Erika. She took a sip of her lentil soup and chuckled. "That Wind Dragon thing was really something, Cy."

"Yeah! Was that one of those super duper rare Balance Dragons?" asked Justin, who along with Sarah had joined them for dinner..

Cyrus nodded. "Leon and Haru have some too."

"No way! How!? You gotta tell me!" Justin rounded on Haru and Leon, unbelieving.

Leon pulled out Light Dragon. "Luck," he said with a shrug, showing off the card. "Haru actually has more of the Dragon cards than either me or Cyrus."

"You gotta be kidding! Show me, show me!" demanded Justin.

Haru bit his lip. "I, um, uh…" he stuttered. With shaking hands, he pulled out his three Dragon cards: Shining Dragon's Ascension, Dragon's Blade, and Water Dragon. "T-these, right?"

There was silence, as Justin stared at Haru's trio of cards, slack-jawed. You could've heard a pin drop, it was that quiet.

Then…

"WHOAAAAA!" Justin shouted at the top of his lungs, very nearly blowing Haru away. "THAT'S SO AWESOME!"

"In any case, We only have three of each group," Cyrus said.

"For the Balance Dragons, we only have Light Dragon of the Magic Seal, Water Dragon of the Endless Mirror, and Wind Dragon of the Eons."

"For the Strife Dragons, we have..." Leon quickly consulted Haru's cards, and shuddered when he recalled Dragon's Moon. "We have Dragon's Moon from Cyrus, and Haru's Shining Dragon's Ascension and Dragon's Blade."

"The Moon Dragon? The Blade Dragon? The Ascending Dragon?"

"And the Prison Dragon." Chase pulled out his Dragon's Prison Seal.

"Oh yeah… forgot about that one…" Haru actually snickered slightly, remembering how badly it had failed against his Xyz Monster in his Duel with Chase.

"So... You need five more cards! That's pretty cool." Justin beamed.

Sarah, miffed about having to pay for Justin's meal, wasn't as impressed. "And what, may I ask," she said in a rather sour tone as she stabbed a fork into her tri-tip steak, "is so amazing about those things?"

"They're designed to create a deck that, with the right cards added, is basically invincible," said Chase. "Or at least that's what my friend Joshua tells me."

"Plus, look at the designs." Leon showed Sarah the seven cards. She regarded them impassively, picking at her teeth with a wooden toothpick.

"I don't see the appeal," she said flatly.

Leon frowned. "But how can't you?!" he demanded. "They're way too cool! You gotta love 'em!"

"Sorry kid, but I'm not interested."

"Grrrr!" Leon fumed and returned to his chicken, throwing the cards into the center of the table haphazardly.

"Well. Hello again, friends," a voice said.

Haru turned around, and his eyes widened when he saw a very familiar figure with messy brown hair leaning over the side of the booth he was sitting in. It was Joshua, who he hadn't seen once since the day of the Festival. "It's- it's you again!" Haru exclaimed.

"Hmm... Is this a group of friends or a family?" Joshua asked, playfully tilting his head to one side and letting his bangs hang in his face. "With how you all carry on, one could make the argument you were siblings in one big family."

Sarah rolled her eyes. "As if. I have no relation to any of these guys except Justin."

"You know the old saying- Family is formed by blood or by bond. The light of friendship can become a bond of brotherhood, and with a bond like that, no darkness can tear them apart." Joshua tilted his head to the other side, and let out a soft, rapid giggle. "Tell me, have any of you formed such a bond?"

Haru, still staring at Joshua, thought about these words for a moment. A bond of family, formed from… friendship? No, it sounded too good to be true. Haru shook his head and scooted a bit closer to Haruka, focusing once more on his hamburger and the fries that had come with it. However, as he chewed, he couldn't help wondering...

Noticing this, Joshua's smile turned into a small frown. "Hmm.. You're not really bonded in that way. Shame. They say bonds can bring out new things. Be it personality, common interests... or hidden abilities..."

Leon perked up at the mention of that. Hidden abilities? Almost immediately, his mind flashed back to the Xyz Summon Haru had performed in his Duel with Chase.

"As I was saying, I overlay Gishki Emilia and Water Dragon of the Endless Mirror!"

The Water Dragon looked to Emilia, who nodded. She gave him a wink and a thumbs up, before her body dissolved into a blue light that orbited around the Dragon.

"Let's go!" Haru shouted. He took a card out of his deck box, where he kept his Extra Deck, and slammed it onto his Duel Disk with Emilia and Water Dragon stacked under. "I Xyz Summon… ABYSS DWELLER!"

But to Haru's, Chase's, and the audience's shock, it WASN'T a normal Xyz. The blue light surrounded the Water Dragon, forming a sphere around it as a HUGE magic seal appeared beneath it.

"What the?" one kid asked, hiding behind his parents.

"Didn't he say Xyz?" another person asked.

"I'm definitely blogging about this," a girl muttered, snapping a photograph on her phone.

The blue sphere began to revolve, and in Haru's mind, Ariel started to cheer.

"Woohoo!" she whooped. "You've got him now, big boy!"

"Thanks… I guess? But what's going on!?"

"THIS is why Joshua said to use him, hahaha!" Ariel laughed. "He's not just a regular old monster- he has a hidden feature! You might wanna grab some popcorn, cuz here he comes!"

The magic seal flared with blue light, and the sphere grew to gigantic size. The light dissipated…

...and the Water Dragon had transformed. Now, it was easily three times Haru's size, and its scales were midnight blue. Two crystalline horns glowed periwinkle blue on its head, and its body was etched in runes glowing the same color. A long mane of white hair ran down its back, and its eyes shone yellow. Hanging around its neck was a large mirror, the same as the one on Water Dragon's card, but larger and fixed up. It was as if the Water Dragon had somehow fused with the Abyss Dweller Haru had intended to Summon. (ATK 1700 - 2200)

"This Joshua seems to be trying to tell us something," murmured Light Dragon.

"You don't say?" Leon thought. "Thank you, Captain Obvious."

"Still, it would be wise to pay heed to his advice," Light Dragon recommended.

Leon took a cursory glance at Haru, who had retrieved his cards and was tearing into his burger and fries with an unusual fervor and deliberately avoiding the eyes of the others. "Easier said than done," he muttered.

Soon, the group was heading out to go home.

Haru yawned a great big yawn as they exited the park under the lavender sky of twilight, heading back to the garage. "I'm really tired… we did so much today."

"Did you honestly have fun?" Water Dragon asked.

"Well… a bit," Haru admitted.

Erika looked at Haru strangely. "Who are you talking to, Haru?" she asked.

Haru jolted. "Oh... um... I was, uh…" he stammered.

"Haru has imaginary friends." It was Haruka to the rescue, coming in smoothly with a well-oiled excuse to circumvent the truth about Duel Spirits.

"...If… you say so." Erika turned away from Haru, looking uncomfortable.

"It's only because he doesn't have too many friends," Haruka mentioned.

"I'm right here, you know…" mumbled Haru.

Haruka just patted Haru's shoulder. "It's okay, bro. Maybe that'll change with Leon and the rest."

Haru doubted that very much.

Upon their arrival back at the house, someone they knew was waiting there, sitting on the porch. It was a boy about Cyrus's height, with blonde hair of a similar shade to Cyrus's own, though this boy's had pink highlights in it. He was wearing a blue coat with a gold collar, a white shirt, and dark grey slacks, and was holding a gift-wrapped box in his hands.

"Evening," he greeted casually as Cyrus and company approached the front door. This was Nicky Anderson, easily the most enigmatic of the people in Leon's circle of friends.

"Hi Nicky." Cyrus smiled, before noticing the box in his friend's hand. "Oh? Whatcha got there?"

"It's for you." Nicky held the gift out to Cyrus. "You can open it now if you want."

Almost immediately, Cyrus tore into the wrapping paper, revealing a small booster box of Duel Monsters cards, all from the same pack.

"Dragon's Path?" Cyrus asked, looking at the pack title.

"It's a special booster pack that they just released. Go on, open it. You'll like the last one," said Nicky.

Cyrus curiously opened it up. "Huangdi the Supreme Yellow Dragon, Sun Dragon Inti, Stardust Dragon, Ancient Fairy Dragon, Shooting Star Dragon, Blue-Eyes, and... what the..." The little blond boy pulled the last card out of the pack, eyes wide. "Is this…"

Nicky nodded seriously. "It's the new guy."

"Whoa… Purge Dragon..." The card was, for lack of a better term, terrifying. As soon as he took one look at the card art, Cyrus shuddered and pocketed it, not wanting to look at it.

"This seems on par with Dragon's Moon in the creepy factor," Cyrus said.

"Heh, Cyrus keeps getting the creepy cards," chuckled Chase.

"Watch it." Cyrus elbowed Chase slightly. Then, he looked at Nicky. "Hey, Nicky, can I ask you a favor?"

"What kind?" Nicky replied.

"It's... an important one. But can I tell you another time?"

"Alright. Let's go inside, I don't like the dark," Nicky said. Cyrus arched an eyebrow at the request, but nodded. Haruka, still carrying Haru, left for their house, waving goodbye, and Cyrus brought everyone else inside.

Soon the group was gathered in the living room. Cyrus was eager to open his gifts.

Cyrus looked at the gifts. "How about... Yukio's first?"

Yukio perked up. "Mine?" he asked tentatively. "You sure?"

"Sure, I figured you deserved to be first." Cyrus picked up the package that Yukio had gift-wrapped, and tore open the paper to find a little wooden box. "Oh?" Opening it, his eyes widened as he saw what was within: a little wooden sculpture, carved to resemble a coiled-up Eastern dragon, fast asleep. "Wow! This is beautiful! Where'd you get it?"

"I made it myself," Yukio said, blushing. "I've gotten good at wood carving, and Leon told me you like dragons."

"Thanks so much, Yukio! It's really awesome." Cyrus held the little carving close for a moment, before placing it reverently back inside its box.

"You learned to wood carve, Yukio?" Leon asked.

Yukio nodded. "Kept my mind off you-know-what," he said.

"Got it."

"On that note, Leon's can be next!" Cyrus immediately grabbed Leon's gift, wrapped in a nauseatingly bright blue paper, and opened it up. It was a really cool dragon-themed deck box, with a clip to go on any belt.

"Whoa! This is awesome! Where'd this come from?" Cyrus asked.

"It was custom ordered just for you." Leon smiled.

"Wow, thank you Leon." Cyrus said. Leon simply basked in Cyrus's gratitude, smiling.

After Leon's present came Haru's. Cyrus turned to the bag Haru had brought, and Haru began to sweat. What if Cyrus didn't like what he had been given? What if he thought it was bad or stupid or ugly? What if…

Haru felt Haruka's hand on his shoulder, and the teen leaned down to whisper in Haru's ear. "It's fine. You worked hard on it. I'm sure he'll like it."

Cyrus opened the gift, tearing the red paper packed inside the bag to hide its contents. Slowly, he drew forth several card packs, from the newest Duel Monsters release, followed by a card tin with the infamous Felgrand Dragon on the cover.

"Cool! This is great, Haru!" Cyrus cheered. "I'll open them when I get home, okay? I don't want the cards to spill out all over, or get lost or ruined."

"That's alright with me," said Haru, whose palms were practically drenched in cold sweat by now. "But there's one more thing in your bag…"

"Really?" Cyrus looked in the bag curiously, and plunged his hand in once more. He fished around for a few seconds, before- "...huh? What's this..?"

The thing he had grabbed was a canvas stretched over a wooden frame, and as Cyrus pulled it out, his eyes widened at the sight of the painting that Haru had made.

It was a picture of the five friends in Leon's particular circle- Leon, Cyrus, Nicky, Lily, and Zeo- all together in a nice meadow setting, enjoying a wonderful evening as the sky faded from pink to a rich midnight blue. Everyone who looked at it marveled. Even Ariel's own jaw dropped.

"This is beautiful!" said Cyrus. "But... where are you in this?"

"Well... against the tree," Haru said.

"There is no tree."

"Here." Haru pointed to the left edge of the painting, right at the corner. There was a small, dark tree there, with Haru leaning against it, watching the others with an unreadable expression.

"This feels a bit symbolic..." Baby Dragon said as he looked at the painting over Cyrus's shoulder, unseen and unheard by his Partnered human.

"What do you mean, BD?" Petit Dragon asked.

"I dunno… it just sorta feels like a reflection of what's in Haru's heart. He wants to be part of the group... but something keeps him at a distance."

Haru noticed the two of them discussing him, and glowered. "If those two spill anything to Cyrus," he thought savagely, "I'll be having dragon meat for dinner."

Not wanting to bother with them any longer, he directed his attention away from the little creeps and towards Cyrus. "So, Cyrus… you really like it?" he asked.

"Yeah! It's beautiful. You're a great painter!" complimented Cyrus.

Haru blushed. "Shucks… I try. I'm really glad you like it."

"The penultimate is mine," Haruka said, presenting another box wrapped in black with a white ribbon. "It's kinda fancy, so I wrapped it in black."

"I see!" Cyrus said, as he gently took the ribbon off, so not to ruin it, and then opened the gift. Inside was a fancy watch, a soaring dragon engraved around the silver steel edge.

"Whoa... incredible," breathed Cyrus. "It's amazing, Haruka… thank you!"

"No problem, Cy." Haruka ruffled Cyrus's hair gently.

Erika nodded. "Okay, sweetie," she said to Cyrus. 'Mine is th-"

"Hold on, hold on!" interrupted Chase. "What about mine!?"

Erika looked at the pile of presents, and saw that it had been reduced to not one, but two, and promptly felt very embarrassed that she'd forgotten about Chase.

"Oh… oh dear, I'm sorry about that."

"It's cool," Chase smiled, handing Cyrus his gift. Cyrus opened it, and saw that it was the two spinoff games Chase had bought at Gamestop.

"Whoa!" Cyrus's eyes glimmered. "These are the League of Legends spinoffs! This is so cool!"

"You told me you were a League fan, so I got you a couple of the spinoffs." Chase shrugged. "I'm happy you like it!"

"As I was saying, my gift is the final one." Erika gave her gift to her son. It was wrapped in white paper, with a fancy ribbon on top, so Cyrus was very careful to make sure it stayed safe.

Opening the gift, Cyrus was so amazed by what he found, he was in tears. It was another plushie, but of something special to Cyrus: a red dragon his father created based off him. His father, Edrick Strong, was a cartoonist who had created a number of shows that everyone loved in their time. He had passed on last year, but Cyrus still remembered his father dearly. The boy began to cry as he hugged the toy to his chest. "M-mom… how did you find this…?"

"It turns out, your dad had it made last year, planning to give it to you for your 9th birthday. I found it in a hidden place in his closet, and realized he'd want you to have it. Consider it mine and your father's gift," Erika said softly.

Cyrus burst into even louder wailing as this happened. He hugged his mother "Thank you momma! Thank you! I promise to take good care of Cy, for you and for dad!"

"Cy?" Ariel asked, totally clueless.

"It's probably the name of the plushie," Haru murmured.

"It's more than a plushie," Leon said, overhearing. "I remember Cyrus telling me about his dad making a series called Dragon Adventure, and he was planning to put Cyrus in as a guest voice, playing a red dragon named Cy... but then... that happened."

"That" was the illness which had claimed Cyrus's father. It wasn't a common topic around Cyrus, for obvious reasons.

"Well, how do you feel about your tenth birthday?" Erika asked.

Cyrus sniffled and wiped his tears on his sleeve. "Best birthday ever," he said softly.

"Glad you're happy." Erika smiled.

Elsewhere, a girl groaned as she crumpled up a piece of paper. "No, no, no, no, no!" she scowled. "Everything I try ends up being a bust…"

"What's the matter, sweetie?" an eerie, feminine voice asked.

Thinking it was her mother, the girl sighed. "I keep coming up with designs that end up looking terrible. How am I ever going to win the card designing contest in two weeks?" she lamented.

"Do you have your effects, stats, and other info figured out?"

"Well... yeah... just need the Monster and name."

"That's not hard… just let me take over."

The girl sighed again, and rested her head on the desk. Her eyes closed, and it seemed like she was asleep for a second…until her eyes snapped right back open, the irises now bright red.

"I'll make your design," she sneered, "and in return, I'll borrow your body to hunt down that brat and finish him off once and for all."


	4. Chapter 4

The morning after Cyrus's birthday, Cyrus and Nicky were chatting over breakfast, with Justin, Leon, and Yukio still asleep.

"So... run that by me again?" Nicky asked.

Cyrus sighed, gently holding his red dragon plushie. "I want you to make a card of Cy here. I know you like to draw, so it would be nice if you could design a card for him." His green eyes looked pleadingly into Nicky's own. "Please?"

"Well... I _do_ still owe you for study buddies, which _did_ save my math grade…" Nicky rested his elbows on the table, taking a bite of a sausage. "Deal. So, tell me more about Cy. I can't draw him as a doll- the Madolches have the monopoly on that. So, who exactly _is _Cy the Red Dragon?"

Cyrus speared the last bite of his pancakes on the end of his fork and ate it up, kicking his legs. "Well... He's a playful, happy little... well... red dragon cub. He loves to fly and is fresh in learning to breathe fire. He's kind, honest, and reliable, especially to his friends. And he would protect them no matter what."

"...Just like you, Cyrus." Nicky smiled slightly and finished his breakfast, before jumping down from the high stool he was sitting on and going to Cyrus's kitchen sink to wash his plate. "You can do the stats, I do the drawing, and maybe Haru can amp up the depth with _his _skills, if that painting of his is anything to go by. Sound cool?"

"Sounds good!" Cyrus beamed as he went to wash his plate as well. As soon as he was finished and had stacked his plate above the dishwasher, he ran for the phone to call Haru.

For once, Haru was up early. He was in his room, sitting at his easel, and upon a canvas, he was painting that same scene he gave Cyrus yesterday, with one interesting difference. Haru, in the painting, was a little closer than in the original, his hands behind his back and his gaze averted from the group, and Cyrus was looking in his direction with a smile.

"_Whatcha painting? The new Picasso?"_ Ariel appeared by his side, almost giving Haru a jolt. But by now, he was somewhat used to her. The little Spellcaster scrutinized the painting, squinting and pretending to hold a magnifying lens to her eye. "_Hey... that's the painting you gave Cyrus, ain't it? Except for you being closer, and Cyrus looking at you. Why are you painting the same picture twice?"_

"Practice makes perfect," Haru countered coolly.

"_Mm, whatever you say, Ponytail. Y'know, the Dragon cubs were right, this painting IS symbolic."_

Haru bit his lip. "Can it."

"_Don't want it going public?" _Ariel asked.

"You know precisely why I don't want it going 'public', Ariel... Just leave me be for now, okay? I don't want to disturb Haruka," Haru grunted.

As if Haru had jinxed it, RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIING! The phone in the living room rang like crazy, waking Haruka, who had fallen asleep on the couch, up anyway.

"Waah!" The older of the Taylor brothers yelped as he was startled out of a dream, rolling off the side of the bed and falling to the ground in a thump, much like his little brother did when startled awake. "I'll get it!" Haruka staggered to his feet and stumbled over to the phone that lay innocuously on the mantelpiece. "Taylor house. Haruka. Start talking, it's your nickel."

"**Hey... It's Cyrus... You okay, Haruka?"**

"Just woke up." Haruka apparently shared the same bad temper that his brother did when awoken by force. "Sorry. What's wrong?"

"**Nothing wrong, but Nicky and I wanted to talk to Haru."**

"Oh?" Haruka shook his head to clear his thoughts, and nodded. "Sure, gimme a minute." He took a deep breath, then bellowed, "HARU! PHONE! IT'S CYRUS!"

Haru abandoned his painting and traipsed his way downstairs, grabbing the phone from Haruka's hand. "Uh, Haru here..."

"**Hey, Haru!"** Cyrus said. "**Uh, Nicky and I are designing a fanmade Duel Monsters card for Cy the Dragon. Would it be okay if you could use your mad painting skills to make it look really good?"**

"Oh, that red dragon toy... Um... Well, if you can give me a sketch and about a week, sure, I guess..." Haru rubbed the back of his head.

"**Awesome. We'll get it to you ASAP!"**

"Okay. See you."

On the other line, Cyrus hung up and smiled at Nicky conspiratorially. "We're good, just need to get him a sketch and give him a week, bingo."

"Perfect," Nicky said. Then, he shifted slightly from where he was seated on Cyrus's living room couch. "Uh, by the way… I didn't tell anyone this, because I got sick, but, uh..."

He leaned in to Cyrus's ear, eyes darting from side to side, and whispered.

"There's a card design contest coming up, and I'm thinking about entering Cy."

"Really?" Cyrus asked.

"Uh-huh. Sounds good to you?" Nicky smiled.

"How does the contest work?"

"Everyone who enters submits a card, and the top five cards become official cards in the game and win their makers really cool prizes!"

"And... all the others?" Cyrus asked.

"They get reviewed by Industrial Illusions, and the good ones become game cards too."

"I wanna make Cy the best card possible. So plenty of people use it." Cyrus clenched his fists and looked Nicky square in the eye. "Can we do it?"

Nicky nodded. "We can do it."

Cyrus, Nicky, and Haru quickly got to work on the special card, not knowing Nicky had something extra special planned for the card later. Cyrus was the one who had created the original template, featuring the card's stats, Type, name, effect, and Attribute. Nicky, using the Cy toy as reference, drew a sketch of the Duel Monster edition of Cy. Then the sketch was given to Haru, who, impressed by Nicky's efforts, put HIS best efforts in too. The week rolled by, and soon, it was ready.

"Um... here it is," Haru said as they met up outside Cyrus's house the Saturday after his birthday party, holding a canvas. Eagerly, Cyrus grabbed the mockup that they'd created, and looked over it with a surprising intensity.

The card's stats were as follows: Fire-Attribute, Level 3, 900/700, Dragon/Tuner. Its effect was quite simple: "This Monster can attack twice in the same Battle Phase."

The picture was the best part, though. It depicted a young and admittedly cute dragon cub standing proudly atop a mountain, overlooking a vast sapphire sky dotted with clouds and a deep, verdant valley below.

"Wow... Haru... your coloring and depth is amazing... Nicky, the scene is perfect," Cyrus said.

"The card itself is good, too," Nicky said. "Sorry my sketch was so rough, Haru."

"No problem..."

"There's a Card Design contest coming up. The top five cards that get submitted are made official," Nicky finally revealed.

Cyrus blinked. "Wait, wha?"

"Are you saying…" Haru gasped.

Nicky nodded. "We're submitting Cy into the contest."

"Cy... an official card?" Cyrus could barely believe his ears.

"Right," Nicky said. "I know how special he is to you, so why not immortalize him in art?"

"Whoa… an official card design contest. I really hope that this will work, Nicky."

"I'm certain of it." Nicky nodded.

Meanwhile, though, Haru noticed something. Cyrus's Partners, Baby and Petit Dragon, had appeared on his shoulders, and were whispering to one another.

Nicky stared at Cyrus for a moment. "...Cyrus."

"Huh?" Cyrus tilted his head slightly. "What is it, Nicky?"

"...You do realize that there are a pair of dragons sitting on your shoulders, right?"

"I do?" Cyrus asked, tilting his head.

"Yeah, right…. here."

And to Haru's shock, Nicky PICKED UP Petit Dragon, and held him out to Cyrus. "See?"

"...What the?!" Cyrus looked at Petit. "Petit? ...Nicky... let go of him, you're gonna hurt him!"

Nicky let go, the startled dragon fluttering unsteadily back to his partnered human.

"_You can see us now?!" _Baby Dragon asked, flying right off of Cyrus's shoulder and getting in his face.

"I… uh… yeah?" Cyrus answered unsurely.

"_Thank goodness! He can see us!" _Petit said in joy and relief.

"_We and Wind Dragon have been waiting so long!" _gushed Baby Dragon.

"Wind Dragon?" Cyrus tilted his head. "As in Wind Dragon of the Eons?"

"_The one and only, young one." _With a quick poof, Wind Dragon popped in, right in front of Cyrus. "_Thank goodness you can see us now."_

"Whoa!" Cyrus's mouth was hanging open. "But… What's going on here?"

"We're your Duel Spirit Partners. You made us, after all."

"...I did?"

"_Yep! Me and Petit were born from the two cards you always carry around your neck," _Baby Dragon said.

Cyrus looked at the card-holder locket that was around his neck, and opened it up. Sure enough, Baby Dragon and Petit Dragon's cards were in there.

"_And I was resurrected when you played me in the duel with that Dinosaur girl," _Wind Dragon said.

"..." Cyrus looked towards Nicky and Haru. "Are you guys seeing this?"

They nodded.

"So... what's going on here?" asked Cyrus, a little confused.

"Um…" Haru opened his mouth, then closed it again. "It's, uh, hard to explain…"

"_Well... long story short, you humans created us. But the bad spirits, the Parasites, want to control humanity and we need your help to stop them," _Wind Dragon said.

"Ohh… Okay!" Cyrus nodded. "Sounds easy!"

"_All you gotta do is beat Parasites in Duels," _Petit said.

"Yeah... Parasites paired with Duelists with skills ranging from decent to big league," Haru added.

Cyrus blinked. "Wait, what?"

Nicky put a hand on Cyrus's shoulder, and suddenly, Cyrus felt something hostile coming off the other blonde. When he spoke, his voice was low and cold. "Cyrus. Fighting the Parasites is not a game. They can and will hurt people very, very badly. As inept as some can be, most of them are extremely dangerous. Do you think you have the strength it takes to face them?"

"...Yes. As long as I have something to protect, I can fight," Cyrus said.

"Someone... to protect..." Nicky's mind began to drift for a second, losing itself in a certain memory of a time long ago…

...but he shook his head. "No," he said, voice even colder. "You don't have the strength to fight them at all."

And he spat at Cyrus's feet. "You'll never have it, and if you think you will, you couldn't be more wrong."

"_HEY! Don't you do that to Cyrus!" _Wind Dragon yelled.

Nicky turned his withering gaze on Wind Dragon. "Stay out of this, you miserable excuse for a Synchro."

"Please don't be a jerk, Nicky." said Cyrus. "I can fight the Parasites."

"No you _can't!_" Nicky snapped, making everyone recoil. "You're just a kid! You've never had those _monsters _take away the person who means the most to you in this world! Just go home and leave this to the people who actually _know what they're doing_!"

Before anyone could say anything to stop him, Nicky turned on his heel and bolted away, and Cyrus and Haru both were shocked to see that there were tears streaming down his face.

"_...Well... He was a total jerk..." _Ariel said.

Wind Dragon frowned. "_Doesn't he understand that the Parasites don't exactly give humans a choice in the matter?" _

"What?" Cyrus asked.

Haru shook his head, holding a hand up. "On… on the contrary, I think that he understands it all too well."

"_But Cyrus can't just leave this alone. Parasites WILL come after him," _Petit Dragon said.

"What?" Cyrus asked again.

"_And what's the deal with him saying that stuff?" _Baby Dragon added. "_Sure, Parasites like to hurt humans emotionally by manipulating, injuring, or outright __**killing **__their loved ones, but-"_

"WHAT?!" Cyrus shouted at the top of his lungs.

"_...Perhaps I've said too much."_ Baby Dragon shut his mouth.

Nicky locked the door of his room as tight as he possibly could once he arrived back at his house, not even bothering to greet his father.

"Nicky, what's wrong?" his father asked from behind the door.

"Go away!" the blonde shouted, diving onto the bed and covering his head with a pillow.

"Nicky, tell me what's going on! Don't be rude!" Mr. Anderson demanded.

"No! I don't wanna see you! I don't wanna remember Sparky! Go away, go away!"

At the name, Mr. Anderson's anger faded as quickly as it had flared up. "Sparky? What brought that up?" the father asked.

Nicky whimpered. "Cyrus and Haru, they're awake, they're awake! They can see Duel Spirits! They've been Partnered!"

"..." Mr. Anderson didn't speak for a while. When he did, his voice was quiet. "How do you know?"

"I saw the Spirits when I went to see the card for the contest."

"What Spirits are they?"

"Haru had Gishki Ariel and Water Dragon of the Endless Mirror. Cyrus was Petit Dragon, Baby Dragon, and Wind Dragon of the Eons."

"Then they'll be okay. You know how Dragon Spirits never fail to protect their human partners. Remember Cousin Christian?" the dad said.

"...I don't want them to be hurt too."

"Then protect them!" Mr. Anderson said.

"Obviously. I just… I'm scared. I was so weak the last time…. And now Sparky's gone."

"But you're stronger now, and you have me. And it's not just one person, it's multiple people. You can all protect each other."

"...Are you certain?"

"Yes. I promise."

"..." Nicky lifted his head from under the pillow. "...okay."

"Now how about you go see your friends again?" Mr. Anderson said.

"...okay… Should I buy them something to make up for running off?"

"Of course."

"...So... I need to be able to protect my grandpa from the Parasites?" Cyrus asked. Nicky had returned to the meeting place with apologies and grape soda, and the two of them and Haru were sitting on a bench.

Nicky nodded seriously. "Yes. I'm sorry I snapped at you earlier, but like I said, it is _not _easy. Parasites are Duel Spirits, after all. They know the ins and outs of the game very well."

"Did you lose someone?" Cyrus asked once more, Wind Dragon seating on his shoulder.

"...Yes." Nicky looked away. "My older brother, Samuel."

"Ouch... I won't ask further." Cyrus looked away from Nicky.

"It's okay... anyway... I got you something as an apology." Nicky handed Cyrus the grape soda. "I didn't have much money, so this was all I could buy."

"Oh! Crush Grape! My favorite! Thank you." Cyrus smiled, accepting the soda. Nicky nodded.

"Ah… by the way, the contest is tomorrow."

Cyrus had almost totally forgotten the contest in the aftermath of Nicky's outburst, and he perked up as he remembered. Almost immediately, his eyes darted to the Cy canvas. "Are you sure we have a good card?"

"Yes. In fact, I think we can win. How much effort did we put into it?"

"...I did my best to make sure the stats and effect were fair," Cyrus said.

"My sketches were as accurate and clean as I could get them." Nicky added.

"And my colors were… okay…" Haru fidgeted.

Nicky and Cyrus stared at Haru for a second, before redirecting their gaze to the canvas.

"If _that's _considered 'okay', I'd _**LOVE **_to see what you call your best," Cyrus said.

"N-no, it's nothing special…" Haru bit his lip. "R-really, I'm not very good at all…"

"Well, this is still really good. We'll be winning the contest with Cy."

"_Agreed_," Wind Dragon said.

"_There you go... there's your card, sweetie," _a soft voice said.

.

A girl was staring at the card in her hand. "Thank you…"

"_Now, you must pay your return fee. May I borrow… this?" _

The girl's body slumped over.

The next day, at the plaza, the registration table was set up... and there were already ten people lined up.

"Ueh… People...,." Haru looked distressed.

"Ugh, Lines..." Cyrus looked distressed.

"...competitors." Nicky looked confident. "We'll blow them out of the water."

The kids soon were up next up.

"You each submitting a card?" the contest lady asked.

"No, we're in this together!" Cyrus proudly presented their canvas.

"Wow, this is definitely a pro quality card. Congratulations, you're in the contest." The receptionist smiled and gestured for them to move on. "Please remain in the plaza for further results. OH! I need your names."

"Cyrus Strong."

"Nicky Anderson."

It took a slight elbow to Haru's hip to get him to talk. "H-Haru Taylor."

"You're all set! I'll be rooting for you." The lady beamed. "Have fun!"

The three boys stepped away, and a girl with white hair and dark skin came up.

"Hello," she said sweetly. "I'm here to submit a card!"

"Let's see it."

The girl slid a card onto the counter, which the receptionist picked up and took a good hard look at.

"...Yeesh, what a card..." the lady said. "You're, um… in."

"Thank you!" the girl chimed brightly, walking away. She smiled brightly once more at the receptionist… and for a second, the receptionist thought she saw the girl's eyes flash red.

Leon meanwhile was in town with his family, enjoying a non-Dueling day with his family.

"I can't believe I can't support the guys in that contest," Leon said, taking a bite from a mango on a stick.

Yukio rolled his eyes. "Is it really that important?" he asked. "If it were something big like a tournament or something, maybe, but this is just a little contest."

"I know, but friends usually need to support each other in whatever they do," countered Leon.

"In kiddy cartoons."

"It's true friends should support each other, but it doesn't mean they have to always be physically present," Mrs. McCloud reasoned.

Yukio and Leon stared at their mother.

"...ever thought of just telling them good luck via a simple text?"

"You never got either of us a cell phone," Leon grated.

"Then I can send it, I have Haru's number."

"If you could do that, that'd be great," Leon said.

In his pocket, Haru's phone vibrated.

"A text?" Haru pulled out his phone, checking the text.

"Leon and Yukio are wishing you their best. -Charlotte"

"Guys, we got well wishes from the McClouds," Haru said.

"We won't need it," Nicky said stoutly. "We have talent."

"Come to think of it... Why isn't Leon here anyway?" Cyrus asked. The others shrugged.

"We'll let him know how it goes, I guess…." Haru mumbled. He stuck his hands in his pockets. "Guys, I really don't think we're gonna win anything, I ruined it with the colors…"

Cyrus and Nicky stared at him. "How? The colors were amazing..."

"I can do a LOT better..." Haru looked guilty. "I messed up really bad on that, it was horrible… I shouldn't have even tried…."

"If you didn't try, Cy would never even have had a chance. The rules state the visuals MUST be colored." Cyrus shook his head.

"It would still have been better," Haru protested weakly. "I… I just messed up so bad…"

"I sincerely doubt that," a voice said out of nowhere, right behind Haru.

Haru jolted as he whipped around, to see Joshua smiling at him. There had been nobody behind him just a few seconds ago, how did Joshua get there so fast? "Hehehe… What's got you so down, Haru?" Joshua asked.

"Long story short, I screwed up all of Cyrus and Nicky's hard work."

"How?"

Haru pointed at the canvas.

"Aww, that's a cute little Dragon!" Joshua admired. "Who made that?"

"I did the Effect and Stats!" Cyrus said.

"I take credit for the sketch," Nicky added.

"I did the colors…" Haru bit his lip. "But it's so ugly, look…" He pointed at Cy. "That shade of red is all wrong, it clashes so bad with the sky and the trees…" He proceeded to point out a bunch of things, all kinds of trivial little details that didn't even look all that bad.

"Um…." Joshua looked the canvas over again, trying to see what Haru did, and raised an eyebrow. "I don't see it," he said. "All I see is a possible Balance Dragon with a great design."

The second sentence knocked the kids for a loop. "A possible what now-!?" Nicky spluttered.

"Cy could make a good Balance Dragon," Joshua said.

The trio stared.

"You're… kidding, right?" Haru ventured uncertainly.

"Nah… What do you say, Iona?" Joshua pulled a white-backed card out of his pocket, one that didn't seem to be for Duel Monsters. Emblazoned on it was the image of a mysterious, dark-haired girl in revealing clothing. Joshua cocked his head towards the card, as if pretending it were speaking, then smiled and put it back in his pocket. "Iona agrees with me. Cy would make a good addition to the group."

"Um… okay..." Haru shrugged.

"And being a judge, I can tell you, you got a winner here."

"Wait… what?" Cyrus raised an eyebrow. "You're a judge?"

"Yep. I've been a judge for three years now." Joshua chuckled.

"Um… How old are you, exactly?" Haru asked. Joshua looked like a teenager. Were teenagers allowed to be judges?

Joshua laughed slightly. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Not even Iona could at first, ahaha."

"...Enough said..." Haru backed away from Joshua, creeped out a LOT.

"On a less creepy note, you guys seemed closer as friends for now," Joshua smiled warmly.

Haru flinched. "T-that word… Don't say that word…" he mumbled.

"What word?" Joshua asked.

"F-f-f-f-f….." Haru was having trouble spitting it out.

"Friend?"

Haru cringed even harder. "That word…"

"I see... Oh, it's judging time. I have to go. See you in about two hours." Joshua smiled again, and waved goodbye, walking away. Soon, he had vanished into the crowds.

Haru breathed a sigh of relief. "Scary…" he whimpered.

"Well, we got some waiting to do. Bookstore?" Cyrus asked.

"Bookstore."

"Bookstore…"

As the three were looking at the books and comics, someone was watching them.

A white-haired girl with dark skin, red eyes, and a wicked smile. She was hiding behind a bookshelf, staring right at Nicky.

"I have you now, little one…" she murmured.

"You think he's gonna just go down so easily?" a voice said.

The girl whipped around to see Joshua. "How did you-?"

"Never judge a book by its cover." Joshua rolled up his sleeve to reveal some kind of magic seal tattooed on his arm.

Upon seeing the seal, the girl's eyes went wide. "You're-!"

"Not in the mood for taking your guff… Grimro. For what reason do you have the _gall _to come out of hiding after the taboo you committed?" Joshua's eyes changed from grey to harsh gold as he stared right at her, frowning.

The girl became indignant. "Taboo!? What taboo? All I did was make a deal! What of it if the human didn't know what it entailed? I'm here to finish what I started, and get that little creep off my back!"

"You stole a human child's soul. You know the rules. You, and all like you, are forbidden to take a human soul! Let alone a child's!" Joshua's teeth began to sharpen. He reached out, and grabbed Grimro's neck, slamming her against the bookshelf. "I won't let you touch another human child, Grimro!"

The noise, however, got the attention of Nicky, Haru, and Cyrus.

And Nicky overheard the name "Grimro".

Almost immediately, he stiffened, his whole body going rigid and his eyes widening.

The three boy came running to see what was up, and saw the golden-eyed, razor-toothed Joshua, trying to choke Grimro. "Uh... Joshua... what's up with your eyes and teeth?" Cyrus asked.

Almost immediately, Joshua's face became a serene smile. "Hello there," he greeted. "Don't mind me. I'm just taking out some trash." All the while, his grip on Grimro's neck was growing tighter.

"Hands off her, Joshua." Nicky said. He threw his left hand out to his side, and uttered a word: "Load!"

Cyrus and Haru's eyes very nearly popped out of their head when they saw something golden coalesce into existence around Nicky's arm. At first glance, it looked like a Duel Disk, made of red-gold metal… But what kind of Duel Disk had a card-holding tray that sharp? It looked more like a weapon than a toy. In fact, there didn't seem to be any sort of method for it to hold cards, save for a slot that seemed big enough to hold a standard sixty-card deck.

"What is that?" Haru asked.

"Ah, this?" Nicky shrugged. "I call it a Loader. It's good for things like what I'm about to do."

He turned to Grimro. "Fabled Grimro… I formally extend an invitation to a Spell Battle."

"A what?!" Joshua blinked and let go of Grimro. "No one's ever done a Spell Battle in two hundred years!"

"To your knowledge. I've had seven in the past three months." Nicky shrugged again. "Comes with being Spirit-Touched.

"You're Spirit-Touched?!" Joshua was wide eyed.

"...Yes... So… Grimro. Accept my offer?"

By now, Grimro had recovered from Joshua trying to strangle her, and stood up. "I'm going to enjoy claiming your life, like I did the trash you called your brother." Grimro smirked.

Nicky remained cool. "You don't scare me, you worthless excuse for a Light-Attribute Fiend. The Theban Nightmare is creepier than you."

"But the Theban Nightmare never destroyed your life like I did."

Nicky was not fazed. "We'll discuss our terms of negotiation in the plaza."

The two shook hands.

Two minutes later, Nicky stood on one end of the plaza, and Grimro on the other.

"So, on the off-chance you beat me, what do you want out of me?" Grimro asked.

Nicky examined his fingernails. "I'd ask for Sparky's soul back, but he's long gone by now, thanks to you," he said. "Rather… When you lose, I want you to bond with me."

"Bond with you? You want to Partner with me?" Grimro laughed. "I've heard of Stockholm Syndrome, but this is something else entirely! Bwahaha! It's your funeral, kiddo!"

"And if you win, what's your prize?"

"I want that little boy." Grimro pointed to Cyrus, who yelped.

"M-me!?" he squeaked.

"I can tell, Nicky cares about you quite a bit." Grimro leered.

Nicky bit his lower lip. "Can it, Parasite," he said shortly. "Let's get on with this battle."

"Joshua..." Haru looked at Joshua. "Explain this Spell Battle thing. Since you apparently know about it."

"Oh, certainly," Joshua said cheerily. "Spell Battles are magical duels, and were widely performed in antiquity to settle conflicts between humans and Duel Spirits. This is the first time I've heard of someone using actual Duel Monsters cards as their medium in the battle. I'm rather interested in seeing what comes of it!"

Haru's eyes went wide. "...how do you know about Duel Spirits?"

"Ahaha, a gentleman never kisses and tells." Joshua chuckled.

"Are you like us, Joshua?" asked Cyrus.

All Joshua did in reply was chuckle again and lean towards Haru…

_Chu._

Haru sat straight up, and his hand flew to his cheek, which Joshua had just kissed. Joshua was looking as wry as ever.

"Like I said," the mysterious, grey-eyed boy said as easily as ever, "a gentleman never kisses and tells."

Before anyone could respond to that, though, Nicky and Grimro spoke in unison. "Spell Battle, Engage!" As soon as the last word escaped their lips, a dome of light surrounded the plaza, and everything _changed._

"Hey! What's going on? I can't see inside the dome!" Joshua complained. He groaned and ran towards the thing.

"W-wait! What the-?!" Haru stammered as Joshua charged full tilt into the dome... But the boy was forced back from it.

"I guess no one goes in during a Spell Battle." Joshua sighed. "Oh well. It'll be like a radio play!"

"What's a radio play?" Cyrus asked.

"It's from before your time."

"Ready to lose another person important to you?" Grimro taunted. She and Nicky were inside the light dome, within which everything had changed.

Nicky's fists clenched. "Prepare to eat your words, feather face." He tapped on his Loader, which had something like a touch screen on it where the Life Point counter on a Duel Disk would be. "Spell: Blaze Accelerator!"

Grimro smirked. "Oh, really?" she sneered. "Do you really think one petty little Spell is enough to stop me? Summon: Gil Garth! Blade Knight! Vorse Raider! Gene-Warped Warwolf! Rude Kaiser! Spell: Five Axes of Despair!"

Two magic circles formed under them. Grimro's was white, while Nicky's was red. In a burst of white and red energy, the two were suddenly not alone. Five Monsters appeared in front of Grimro: a steel-blue robot with electricity crackling all over its body (ATK 1800), a knight in shining armor (ATK 1600), a fearsome, snaggle-toothed barbarian in spiked clothing (ATK 1900), some kind of white-furred lupine with four arms and a serious case of the ugly (ATK 2000), and a crocodile in armor (ATK 1800). All of them were armed with hideous, blood-spattered axes, which increased their Attack Points by a thousand each. At the same time, Nicky was armed with something like a camera mounted on a tripod. Sure, there seemed to be a tiny spark of fire at its very end, but other than that it was rather a poor defense against five slavering Duel Monsters with upwards of one thousand Attack apiece.

"ATTACK!" Grimro laughed, pointing right at Nicky. All five Monsters hollered and charged right for the boy, axes swinging. However, Nicky catapulted himself out of the way, one axe just barely missing the top of his head.

"Nice try, buddy... My turn." Nicky aimed the camera-thing, and pulled a cord at the back.

The next thing Grimro knew, she was diving out of the way of a volley of fireballs that spewed forth from Nicky's Blaze Accelerator, which hit the Duel Monsters and lit them on fire. All five howled in agony as the flames consumed their bodies, leaving nothing but ash in their wake.

"Blaze Accelerator destroys monsters." Nicky smiled. He tapped his Loader's screen again. "But I prefer… direct damage. Let's go, Misfortune!"

He thrust a hand out, and the magic circle flared up under him. Nicky stuck a finger out… and tapped the air in front of him. All of a sudden, a pinging noise echoed out, the air rippling in front of Nicky, and Grimro cringed.

"Damn it!" she swore, doubling over and covering her ears. "I hate that stupid card! Damn those infernal Destiny Heroes for inventing that technique!"

"Truth hurts." Nicky shrugged. "Now, you gotta pay the price. Summon: Volcanic Rocket!"

"Um... what?" Grimro tilted her head.

"This."

A gate appeared in the sky. Through it came... a rocket? No, not just a rocket. It was some kind of prehistoric reptile- a huge, skeletal pterosaur. Not a Zombie, for a passionate flame still burned in its eyes, and its body was still warm and whole. This monster was surrounded by flame. true to its typing as a Pyro. (ATK 1900)

"You like to hit hard, huh? I can hit hard too." Nicky smirked. "I've come a long way since the scared little kid you met when you stole Sparky's soul."

"Bring it!" Grimro challenged.

"If you insist." Nicky gestured. "Volcanic Rocket… ATTACK!"

The Monster changed headlong at Grimro, ramming her right in the stomach. The Parasite's eyes bugged halfway out of her head as she was thrown back from the impact, landing on the ground with an "Oof!"

"Did that hurt?" Nicky asked.

"Shut up, human brat," Grimro grated, staggering to her feet. She lunged forward, and grabbed the Rocket. "Spell Card: Change of Heart!"

"Blaze Accelerator, on Rocket." Nicky pulled his Blaze Accelerator's cord again, and it complied with a loud roar of flame. Rocket was scorched before Grimro could charm it to her side, but the Accelerator itself soon suffered the same fate when Grimro pulled out a quick Mirror Force.

"I can see my usual cards aren't going to be enough for you," she said darkly. "Well, it's time to get serious! Trap Card: Mirror Wall!"

"What?" Nicky canted his head to the right.

Then, he yelped as a series of huge mirrors sprang up all around him, blocking Grimro from his vision.

"Just try and get out of there, small fry!" the Fiend taunted. "I dare you!"

Nicky tried his Blaze Accelerator again, launching a large fireball at the wall. However, his eyes widened in panic when the fireball bounced right off the mirror… and right at him.

BAM!

"Oogh…" Nicky groaned once the flames had dissipated. He had been subject to a face full of fire, leaving him slightly singed and his equipment a smoldering pike of rubble. "Sheesh…. she isn't kidding," he muttered to himself. "But how do I get out of here?"

A quick once-over of his surroundings gave him a channel to briefly analyze the situation. Mirrors: very tall, reflected attacks, probably too slippery to climb without outside interference. Nicky: Scorched and prone on the ground, vulnerable to any possible stunts his opponent could pull. Grimro: Lurking somewhere outside the Mirror Wall, no doubt planning a dastardly sneak attack.

"Think, Nicky, think!" he said to himself, trying to find a way out. "Spells are no good, most of my Traps are defense… Monsters?"

He looked at his deck box, where he kept his Extra Deck.

All of a sudden, an idea popped into his head. "Yeah… perfect…"

"Have you given up?" `Grimro's voice called from outside the Mirror Wall.

"I'm just getting started, feather breath!" Nicky shouted back. He staggered to his feet, and popped his deck box open. Drawing a card from it, he held it up. "Let's go! Polymerization! I fuse Giga-Tech Wolf and Flame Viper, to draw out the true star of my deck!"

"A dead star, I assume?" scoffed Grimro.

"Hardly. Let's go…. **Blaze Fenix, the Burning Bombardment Bird**!"

A vortex of red and brown energy erupted around Nicky, swirling around him in a brilliant prominence. A gate opened below him….

Not seeing this, Grimro remained unimpressed. "Whatever it is, it will fall before the Mirror Wall's power!"

"If you could only see…" Nicky looked down into the gate, and snickered. "Oh well. You will in a minute…"

Suddenly….

BAM!

Something huge and gray and black and ON FIRE burst from the ground below Nicky, carrying the small boy on its back and completely blasting the Mirror Wall into oblivion.

Grimro fearfully looked up at the being responsible. As the flames cleared away, the creature was revealed.

It was none other than an enormous bird made of fire and metal, flying high up in the air with Nicky upon its back. The lad grinned widely. "Now who's the small fry?"

"Shall I end this battle, master?" the phoenix asked.

"One, don't call me that," Nicky said. "Two, yes."

"Very well." Blaze Fenix bowed its head… Then opened its mouth, and a volley of fireballs with twice the intensity of Hinotama burst out. Grimro's eyes widened, and she let out a high, strangled cry. Naturally, the Parasite tried to run, but the speed of the fire blast was far too great for her to even have a hope of dodging it. She was caught in the burst, and consumed.

To the shock of Haru, Joshua, and Cyrus, who had been watching the dome, it suddenly vanished, revealing a triumphant Nicky, and a very scorched, but alive, Grimro, who was lying prone on the ground.

"Nicky, you okay?" Cyrus asked, running to his friend.

"Never better." Nicky helped Grimro up. "Now, Grimro, _you're _going to honor your end of our wager. Get your pasty butt out of this poor girl's body, and get in here." He pointed to himself.

"Why?" Grimro asked. "Why do you WANT me to bond with you?"

"No reason… Just curious about something." Nicky affected a mild expression. "Is that alright with you? C'mon. Don't you want to spread more and more misery to lowly humans like me?"

"Wait a second... are you-"

"A deal's a deal, and you are bound by Spirit law." Nicky's face twisted into a glare. "Bond with me now!"

Grimro scowled. "So be it." She reached a hand out, and grabbed Nicky's shoulder. Grimro began to glow, a dark blue glow that transferred onto Nicky.

All of a sudden, Grimro's eyes fluttered for a second, and suddenly, they were no longer red. They were brown.

"What's… going on?" she asked, in a voice totally unlike Grimro's. "Am I at the contest?"

Nicky nodded. "Yup. You were kind of out of it today. Are you alright?"

"_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" _Grimro's voice echoed in pure agony, startling Haru, Joshua, and Cyrus.

The girl looked around. "Did you… hear something just now?"

"Nah," Nicky said easily. "I take it you're a contestant also?"

"Uh-huh…" She nodded and held her head. "Yeesh… I must have overslept or something, I'm having really bad memory..."

"Well, you'd better get to the plaza. Judging is underway soon." Nicky smiled. "See you there!"

The girl smiled back gently and walked off.

But Haru and Cyrus were watching something rather nasty. The true form of Grimro was hovering behind Nicky- a demonic girl wearing black clothing made of feathers, with pale skin and monochrome red eyes. And she was thrashing and writhing about in pain, sobbing and howling as her body seemed to literally be unraveling like a spool of thread.

"What... the?" Haru rubbed his eyes and stared at the rapidly disintegrating Duel Spirit. She was clawing at her face, howling incoherently.

"_DON'T LET ME DIE LIKE THIS! PLEASE! NOOOO!" _Grimro wailed, now only existing from the waist up.

"Shoulda thought about that when you decided to take my brother away," Nicky said lightly. "See you on the flip side." And tears began to brim in his eyes.

"What's... going on?" Cyrus asked.

Nicky smiled, the tears finally spilling down his soft cheeks, as the last of Grimro came apart and vanished with one final scream. "It's over," he said in a voice softer than cloud. "It's finally over. The monster who haunted my life for so long is gone."

"You... You're an Anathema." It was Joshua who had spoken, and he looked very pale, his eyes wide open and his irises contracted. Haru noted with surprise and a bit of fear that said irises were flickering and changing between grey and gold.

"_ANATHEMA?!" _The three Balance Dragons screeched, popping out of their cards and curling protectively around their Partners.

"Anathema." Nicky nodded. "Been one for ages."

"What's an Anathema?" Haru and Cyrus both asked.

Joshua shuddered. "An Anathema is a human whose aura is toxic to Duel Spirits. Any Duel Spirit that bonds to an Anathema immediately dies, _painfully_, if they don't break the bond fast enough."

"So... the reason you wanted her to bond with you..." Cyrus hid behind Haru.

"To kill her." Nicky shrugged. "I've done it a bunch of times."

"A bunch?" Haru asked.

"Uh-huh… Not sure how many." Nicky wiped at the tears that were still streaming from his eyes. "But it was a lot. They were tough, too, almost got hacked to pieces by a Bistro Butcher once."

"Ouch." Cyrus winced.

"...You wouldn't hurt our Partners... right?" Haru asked.-

Nicky shook his head. "Never. I'll never hurt a Partner like that. Only Parasites deserve to be killed off."

"OH! Results time!" Joshua realized. He hurried away. "Hurry up, we have to be at the judgment panel in the plaza!" he called over his shoulder.

Back at the stage, the team was eagerly awaiting the results of the contest.

"Think we did okay?" Cyrus asked with some trepidation as the trio weaved through the crowd amassing in the sunlit plaza, towards the row of chairs in front of the stage where the winners were to be announced.

"Don't start doubting now," Nicky murmured. "It's in the bag."

"So... don't you have a Dragon?" Haru asked, changing the subject.

"Anathema," Nicky said shortly.

"I meant a Balance Dragon card."

"Nope."

But there was no time for this to continue, for at that very second, the announcements started. Cheers broke out in the crowd as the three boys took their seats.

And it was Joshua making the annoucement. "Well everyone, it's me, Joshua Addams, with the results of the contest," he said cheerfully, standing center stage with his hands on his hips and a smile on his We had a hundred fifty entrants, from which only twenty could make it. After a remarkably short judging period, we have our five winning cards. If your card is displayed on the big screen behind me, and I announce your name, please come join me on stage."

"Chase said it was Gonzales..." Haru whispered.

"_He gives me the creeps," _Ariel's voice hissed in his ear.

"First up, by Maria Marroquin, we have Fabled Corvus."

The girl that was possessed by Grimro gasped in excitement. "Yes!" She immediately ran up on stage, squealing with joy.

"_**He didn't penalize her for Grimro?**_" Haru wondered.

"_Demonic possession isn't exactly grounds for disqualification, Haru," _Water Dragon said flatly.

"_**Fair point...**_" Haru conceded.

"Next, by Vincent Vincente, Gradius-EX."

An African American boy came on stage, grinning widely. "Alriiiight!" he cheered, pumping his fists.

"Next, Rica Sonata, Sniper Blade!"

A cute girl in a tank top and jeans walked up, blushing.

"Fourth is Miriam Ruby's Xyz Reinforce!"

A girl wearing grey and white strode onstage confidently, a swagger in her step which was halfway between cocksure and determined and which looked absolutely amazing.

"Lastly is actually a team effort, from Nicky Anderson, Haru Taylor, and Cyrus Strong, Cy the Red Dragon!"

The trio went on stage to the sound of loud applause; Haru nearly fainted.

"All five of these cards shall be made official, but one card will be soon be named number one. The maker or makers will be awarded for all their hard work." Joshua pulled some note cards out of his pocket. "Let's see here… The winner is…."

Drumroll.

"Cy the Red Dragon!"

The audience erupted into cheers. Cyrus gasped. Nicky smiled.

Haru fainted.

Joshua beamed. "And now, what they've won!" He grinned. "For all their hard work, these lucky guys will receive the new Duel Disk model, an all-expenses-paid trip to Maebashi, Japan for three days, and the opportunity to meet the CEO of Industrial Illusions himself, Antonio Pegasus!"

"WE WON!" Cyrus said excitedly. He turned to hi-five Nicky, in the process accidentally stepping on Haru's forehead."Oh! Sorry Haru!"

Naturally, the unconscious Water Duelist could not respond.

"Oh! Nicky, I have something extra for you." Joshua hurried over and slipped a card into Nicky's pocket. He grinned. "Enjoy."

"Eh?" Nicky pulled the card out. It was another Balance Dragon: Fire Dragon of the Bright Sun.

"You'll need it." Joshua said, and walked away.

Nicky raised an eyebrow.

Eventually, the crowds dispersed, Haru was awake, and everyone went home.

Nicky yawned as he opened the door to his room. "Man, I'm tired," he muttered. The battle against Grimro had taken a lot out of him.

"_You okay, kiddo?" _a voice asked.

Nicky was suddenly on guard. "Who's there!?" he shouted, immediately grabbing his deck and his Loader.

"_On the computer desk," _the voice said. Nicky's eyes flicked towards the computer desk in his room, upon which lay a Duel Monsters card: Fire Dragon of the Bright Sun, the same that Joshua had given him. But, what looked like the Duel Spirit of the Dragon was sitting ON the card.

It stretched and yawned lazily, the afternoon sun glimmering on its red scales. "_Got any Twinkies?" _it asked.

"And... who are you? Some kind of ghost or something?" Nicky raised an eyebrow.

"_Naw." _The Dragon grinned, showing off sharp teeth. "_I'm your new Partner. Well, I will be at any rate. Pleased to meetcha."_

Nicky stared flatly at the Fire Dragon. "...I'm an Anathema."

"_I'm not bonded. But Joshua asked me to be your unbonded ally."_

"And what business does Joshua have with me?" Nicky asked, folding his arms and putting on a very unimpressed expression.

"_He said your friends each had a Dragon, so he wanted you to have one too, to be fair. Don't worry, I'm an Xyz that can work great with your deck."_

"And you know this how?"

"I looked at your deck... sorry." Fire Dragon's ears pointed down. "I was curious, that's all."

"...It's alright. Just don't be a freeloader." Nicky tentatively reached out and petted Fire Dragon's head. "And don't antagonize my dad. He's Spirit-Touched just like me."

"_As said in that show, Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."_

All went silent for a minute, Nicky staring at Fire Dragon and Fire Dragon staring back.

Then…

"...Joshua watches My Little Pony?"


End file.
